Shanghai’s new bridge hitches a lift from Nicolas

Provided by Jiangsu Zhongtai Steel Structure Co (ZTSS), the 12 prefabricated steel sections will form the central tract of the new €330m bridge’s load-bearing structure.

When completed in 2012, Chongqi Bridge will connect China’s third largest island, Chongming Island, and Qidong in Jiangsu to shorten the current journey between Shanghai and Jiangsu.

Nicolas was brought in to move the prefabricated bridge sections over a mile from a JTSS assembly yard to the construction site on the banks of the Yangtze River.

In total, 112 axle lines of Nicolas MDE and MDED Self-Propelled Modular Transports were used to move the sections in two rows of SPMTs, one with 64 axle lines and the other with 48 axle lines leading the procession.

The lead 48 axle lines and following 64 axle lines are connected to via a data cable, with the whole operation driven by four power packs and controlled with one remote control.

ZTSS, already a Nicolas customer, chose to use the transport specialists partly because of their SPMTs lifting height of 650mm, thanks to the Nicolas Pendulum axle technology.

This was needed to enable the SPMTs to drive onto a pontoon when the load arrived at the riverbank.

The pontoon then floated the load out to the bridge assembly point in the estuary, where a ship crane began the assembly process.

In total, the bridge’s central tract consists of eight 185m-long sections weighing 2,566t each, two 147m-long sections weighing 1,890t and two 56m sections weighing 595t.

Once assembly is completed, six-lane bridge will provide a span of 4.35 miles to connect Qidong to Chongming Island – just off the Shanghai coastline – which already connects to Shanghai’s motorway network via the Hushan expressway.