The Buleira Bridge in Romania was opened to traffic
Source: World High Speed Magazine
Romania's landmark Braila Bridge was officially inaugurated. The bridge is a suspension bridge with a total length of 1974 meters and a main span of 1120 meters. The west span is 490 meters, the east span is 364 meters, and the bridge tower is 192.64 meters high. One of the spans has a 180-meter-wide channel reserved for ships. Even if the Danube reaches its highest level in almost 40 years, there is still 39-40 meters of clearance under the bridge. Construction of the bridge began in 2018 at a cost of around 500 million euros.
The Breira Bridge straddles the Danube River and is close to Romania's borders with Moldova and Ukraine, which not only reduces the travel time between Romania itself, but also helps promote international trade and transportation, and drive economic growth.
The development of the British moon landing program helps bridge structural defect detection
Source: Bridge Design and Engineering Magazine, New Civil Engineer, World High Speed Magazine
The UK's National Highway is looking for early non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for potential defects in bridges to drive the development of self-monitoring and maintenance capabilities for structures.
To this end, Atkins and Jacobs have partnered to hold a "Structural Moon Landing" competition to encourage the application of cutting-edge technologies such as advanced sensors, imaging technology, machine learning, algorithms, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies to develop new non-destructive testing technologies for defects and solve the use, management, maintenance and safety problems of aging bridges.
Currently, one of the biggest threats to the UK road network is corrosion of steel components, especially those wrapped in concrete. Therefore, the competition pays special attention to steel elements with two characteristics: steel bars in post-tensioned structures and reinforcement at concrete semi-joints. These steel components are more prone to deterioration and difficult to inspect internally, often requiring intrusive means of assessment, resulting in temporary road closures that affect traffic.
While all structures in the UK are already equipped with robust maintenance and inspection regimes, the latest results from the competition project can provide engineers with a better understanding of the condition of the most complex and difficult structures in transport infrastructure. New early non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for potential defects has the potential to revolutionise the way UK transport infrastructure is monitored, maintained and managed, improving the safety, resilience and reliability of transport networks.
Winning entrants will test their innovations on the decommissioned A14 Huntingdon Railway Viaduct and showcase their products to the National Highway Administration and the industry.
Germany's longest unsupported suspension bridge opens
Source: Daily Mail Network News, Reuters
Germany's longest suspension bridge, the Skywalk Willingen bridge, was finally opened after six years of planning and construction.
The steel structure of the bridge, located near the ski resort of Wielingen in central Hesse, is 664 meters long and weighs 120 tons, about 100 meters above the ground, and 36 steel anchors are 21 meters deep into the mountain, fixing the bridge to the mountain.
The bridge is known as the longest unsupported pedestrian suspension bridge in the world. It can carry up to 750 people at a time, and can also withstand simultaneous Category 2 hurricanes and snowfall.
Heavy rainfall in Japan caused bridges to collapse
Source: Japan Today, VOA News, Reuters
Since June 29, heavy rainfall has been raging in Japan. Yamato Town, Kyushu, received 82 mm of rain, the highest recorded in July. The 37-meter-long Kaneuchi bridge, which spans the Mifune River and connects to National Highway 445, collapsed.
To prevent landslides and floods, about 360,000 residents of Kyushu Island were the first to be notified of evacuation. On July 3, Fukuoka, Saga, Kumamoto, Oita, and Miyazaki Prefectures also notified the orderly evacuation of people. The Japan Meteorological Agency expects heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to continue until noon on July 4.
Every Monday Bridge
Ask at the bridge
Source: World Bridges, Wikidata, International Structure Data and Gallery website
The Askøy Bridge (Norwegian: Askøybroen) in Norway is a suspension bridge across the Byfjorden that connects the cities of Bergen and Askeryu, replacing the ferry between Kleppestø and Nøstet. The total length of the bridge is 1057 meters, the main span is 850 meters, and the two concrete towers are 152 meters high. The bridge has a total of seven spans, except for the main span, the rest are concrete viaducts. The bridge deck is 13.75 meters wide and consists of two motorized lanes, a pedestrian path and a bicycle path. The navigation width under the bridge is 200 meters, and the clearance is about 62 meters.
Work eventually began in 1989 and opened early on 12 December 1992, along with a new stretch of road, including the Stongafjell Tunnel and the Olsvik Tunnel. Currently, the bridge handles about 17,251 vehicles per day.