Bottrop – The second steel bridge segment, weighing 220 tons and measuring over 70 meters in length, was successfully lifted from the inland barge using a tandem lift. Improved weather conditions, with reduced wind and rain, facilitated the operation. To position the segment parallel to the railway lines at the logistics area, both crawler cranes had to reverse under load as part of a carefully controlled maneuver.

Prior to the heavy-lift operation, the ground at the transshipment area was thoroughly leveled and stabilized with a compacted gravel base. Moreover, around 1,500 specialized hardwood elements were laid to form four high-capacity crane travel paths.

As of next Friday evening, a ten-day closure of the A42 will begin. One crawler crane will be disassembled and relocated to the new pipe bridge assembly point—about one kilometer away—where it will be reassembled. Meanwhile, the second crane will handle the transfer of the bridge segments onto the special modular transporters (SPMTs) already stationed on the closed motorway.

In a tightly scheduled and meticulously coordinated process, the old pipe bridge will be removed by the already positioned crawler crane and replaced with the two newly delivered bridge structures.

“The extensive planning and calculations for deploying the two 1,000-ton crawler cranes have paid off,” says Viktor Hein, the project manager at WASEL.