Universal building bridges
26 June 2014Australian crane rental firm Universal Cranes used several Manitowoc cranes on two bridge projects in Queensland and Brisbane, Australia.
The firm used a Grove GMK7450 all terrain to build the 64m long Bruce Highway Bridge near Calliope in central Queensland. The 450t capacity crane installed 22 74t precast concrete beams measuring 33m long and weighing 74t.
On the other bridge project, Universal used two Manitowoc crawler cranes, a 400t Manitowoc 16000 and a 100t Manitowoc 12000 to build the Robinson Road overpass in central Brisbane. The Manitowoc16000 erected 18 58t precast concrete beams measuring 34m long. The Manitowoc 12000 was used to rig the Manitowoc 16000 once on site, and provided general support.
Universal Cranes used specially designed rigging systems on each project. For the GMK7450 a purpose-built lattice spreader was used to lift the large loads with sling angles of 5° against the beam inserts, reducing stress on each insert while perfectly balancing the load. A lightweight spacer beam system was used with the Manitowoc 16000 crawler crane, which enabled the crew from Universal Cranes to perform rigging separation quickly.
