Impressive Buildings

Cooper River Bridge Replacement, SC, USA

The construction of the Cooper River Bridge was a design/build project to replace two old bridges in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and Charleston The new bridge, which opened in July 2005 connects two major municipal areas and offers eight lanes for traffic plus a pedestrian/bike lane. The bridge measures 2.5 miles in length and has increased vertical and horizontal navigational clearance over its predecessors to reduce hindrance to river traffic (road deck is 200ft above the average high tide mark).

The Port of Charleston, the second largest container cargo port on the East Coast, has significant economical impact through the large number of jobs, income and tax revenue it produces. This project has enhanced national and international shipping accessibility to the Port.

The Cooper River Bridge cost approximately $632m. It was funded partly through an approved direct Federal TIFIA loan of up to $215m. The loan repayment source is a subordinate pledge of SCTIB revenues. These primarily consist of existing truck registration fees and loan repayments to the SCTIB.
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Manukau Harbour Bridge Auckland, New Zealand

Manukau Harbour Bridge Auckland, New Zealand.

The Manukau Harbour Bridge is a new 48 km long bridge fromAukland, New Zealand. The goal of the project is to relieve congestion through Auckland, to make travel times shorter and more predictable and allow more room for bus lanes.

The aims are:

To improve efficiency and safety, and to reduce congestion on this part of the SH20 motorway
To increase capacity for vehicles travelling across Manukau Harbour
To improve access between the south-western Motorway and Onehunga to Pakuranga arterial route.

The construction will begin in 2008 and the contractor has not appointed yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Herren Tunnel, Lübeck, Germany

The Herren Tunnel is a 780 metre-long road-tunnel underneath the river Trave.

The city of Lübeck in the Hanseatic League region of Northern Germany had a major traffic congestion problem across the Trave River, which divided the old city from the new regions of the city.The traffic used to run across the Trave River via a road bridge, which was desperately in need of replacement

The Federal government offered sufficient funds to the City of Lübeck for a replacement bridge at the initial planning stages in 1997.The best option for the city was the construction of a bridge that will take the traffic along the diverted national B104 under the river.
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The Incheon Bridge, Incheon, South Korea

The Incheon Bridge, bridge currently under construction, will become the second connection between Incheon and Yeongjong Island, in South Korea. It will be finished in 2009. The Incheon Bridge will be 18,2 km long, of wich the most dificult part will be cable-stayed bridge portion over the main sea route to Incheon port. The Incheon bridge’s budget is estimated to over $2.5 billion.

The foundations will be drilled cast in place piles and the bridge pylons will be Y-shaped concrete structures. The main bridge span is designed for the safe passage of shipping under the bridge. The approach bridges will be constructed using the pre-cast concrete segmental method including the girders and pier caps, while the viaduct bridges will be constructed by the full span precast launching method. Load-testing for the 3m drilled shafts for piling were completed to a standard of 210,000kN in February 2005.
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