UNDERWATER CONSTRUCTION

MERSEY GATEWAY BRIDGE

MERSEY GATEWAY BRIDGE

 The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll

bridge between Run
corn and Widens in Cheshire, England which
spans the River Mersey and the Manchester
Ship Canal.
 The crossing was opened in October 2017.
 The bridge has three traffic lanes in each
direction and is approximately 1.5 km (1 mile)
east (upstream) of the older Silver Jubilee
Bridge.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION:

 Construction started:7 May 2014

 The bridge opened :after midnight on 14 October
2017.
 The crossing's total length -2.3 km (1.4 miles) and its
river span is 1 km (0.6 miles).
 THE DECK:
• made from reinforced concrete
• maximum clearance of 23 m (75 ft) above the river.
 A1.5 km (1-mile) trestle was built out into the Mersey
to drive in the bridge's pilings.
 The bridge has three towers that support
a cable-stayed crossing over the river, while
the southern approach creates a second
bridge over the ship canal.
 The three towers are different heights: an
80 m (260 ft) central pylon, a 110 m (360 ft)
pylon on the north side and a 125 m
(410 ft) south pylon.
FOUNDATION:
 Install sheet piles to create twin wall cofferdams in the river .The cofferdams had a working platform between
the two lines of sheet piles and the construction team then excavated down to the founding surface.
 A blinding layer of concrete was placed on the sandstone before each reinforced concrete footing was cast to
form the foundations.
 The three pylon foundations will sit below the riverbed and will each measure 4.5 meters high and up to 22
meters in diameter.
 Construction of the foundations involves:
1. making a concrete base layer – or floor – inside the cofferdams.
2. a cage made of steel reinforcing bars is assembled and encased in steel matting.
3. steel reinforcement bars are then fixed into the centre of the cage to form the beginnings of the pylon shaft.
4. Metal formwork is inserted for the concrete to be poured to form a solid pylon foundation.
5. After foundation is complete the pylon shaft is constructed
 In total, approximately 127,000 cubic metres of concrete will be used across the project. That’s the equivalent of
around 20,000 truck mixer loads of concrete.
 The formwork will move up the pylon shaft allowing the pylon to ‘grow’. It is estimated that each section of the
shaft will take around five days to build.
TOWER AND CABLE ARRAY DESIGN
 TOWER DESIGN:
 Considered the heights of the three towers and established
that the most successful relationship is a ratio of 1.2:1
between the twin outer and single central towers. This also
provides the most balanced functional composition.
 Clear, simple shaping of the form will provide crisp shadow
lines that emphasize the slenderness of the design.
 CABLE ARRAY DESIGN:
 The harp arrangement comprises a series of parallel stay
cables and is particularly elegant when used in a single
plane along the bridge centerline.
 The basic geometry has been developed to ensure it is
uniform across the three towers with a common internal
angle between arrays.
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS:
1.Trestle bridge and cofferdam in place: 2. Reinforcing bars are assembled:
3. Pylon starts to takes place: 4.Team preparing for concrete pour on movable
scaffolding system Webster speacially designed
and built to construct the curved viaduct on the
Mersey gateway’s south approach:
5. Pylons are completed: 6.Movable Scaffold System, known on site as Webster, ready for
the next concrete pour:
7.Stayed cable being installed: 8.The cables are anchored into delta frames inside the bridge deck.
Each stay cable contains 90 strands:
9. Final concrete poured for bridge construction:

THANK YOU

ANKITHA RAMESH
8TH SEM ‘B’ SECTION
1AA15AT008