The motorway section of the A3 between Cologne-Mülheim and Leverkusen is being expanded to eight lanes. However, since the old motorway bridges are not long enough for the expansion, new bridges are needed. As a temporary solution during the construction work, a Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2 mobile crane was used by the company HKV Schmitz + Partner to erect a makeshift bridge overnight.
The entire section of the motorway was closed during construction of the temporary bridge, which meant the work had to be completed within a narrow time window. HKV Schmitz + Partner GmbH chose to deploy its Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2 to ensure a smooth and fast operation. "The 300t crane provides strong lifting capacities and was perfectly suited for this application," said Michael Schmitz, technical director at HKV. The LTM 1300-6.2 was delivered to HKV in April this year and is equipped with Liebherr’s innovative VarioBase supporting system which provides increased safety and higher load capacities.
Fitted with total ballast of 96t, Liebherr’s 300-tonner soon got to work on the motorway construction site. The temporary bridge was delivered in four parts by semi low-loaders; the heaviest single piece weighed in at 41t and the length of the longest section was 24m.
The LTM 1300-6.2 unloaded the sections from the low-loaders before placing them onto prepared foundations, where they were erected to form the temporary bridge.
At the same time, HKV used an LTM 1400-7.1 to install another makeshift bridge over an adjacent section of motorway.
