Construction of one of the most important crossings on the St Petersburg Ring Road, the Neva River cable-stayed bridge, is now well under way and due for completion in November this year. Approximately 40% of the cables had been erected when Bd&e went to press at the end of January, with 16 pairs erected on one tower, and six pairs on the second tower.

Imagine you're a client looking to build a new bridge in a prominent spot. Any crossing at this location is going to be in the spotlight, and you want to make sure that the bridge gets the attention for all the right reasons. The obvious way to procure a 'landmark' bridge for this type of crossing, and one which is increasingly common, is to launch an international design competition and throw it open to all engineers and architects.

Officials armed with sledgehammers ceremonially hit the old Shohola-Barryville Bridge over the Delaware River, marking the start of a US$9.4 million bridge replacement project. Despite the "bridge breaking" ceremony, the old bridge will remain in use until the new structure opens in 2006. The new bridge will be 247m long, with steel beams, a concrete deck and piers patterned to resemble Pennsylvania dry stacked bluestone. Contractor for the scheme is Fahs-Rolston Paving and preliminary design was by Gannett Fleming. It is a joint project between Pennsylvania and New York State.

A 90t steel bridge was lifted into place on the busy I-95 highway yesterday to provide a temporary route while repairs are carried out following a severe fire. The elevated structure in Connecticut was badly damaged last week when a fuel tanker crashed and caught alight. Permanent repairs are expected to take about a year and a half.

Software developer Bentley Systems has announced that it is joining an industry team developing TransXML, a proposed set of standards to allow easier exchange of data on transportation projects including bridges. TransXML is intended to allow more efficient planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation. The project is led by Cambridge Systematics and sponsored by US state and federal highway departments.

OxBlue Corporation’s webcam technology has been chosen to monitor construction progress of the I-580 extension Galena Creek Bridge in Nevada. The 525m concrete arch bridge will have three of OxBlue’s Automated Remote Monitoring systems installed. Contractor Edward Kramer & Sons began construction of the US$79.5 million bridge in November 2003.

Philippines president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated the Hector Mendoza Bridge in Pangasinan earlier this month. The bridge will help in the management of flood flows in the area, as well as providing an important traffic link. Construction by China State Construction Engineering and Ciriaco took 25 months, and the 1km bridge opened six months ahead of schedule.

Plans for a US$825 million new crossing of the River Thames in east London were approved today by the board of the capital's integrated transport body, Transport for London. Government financial support has already been announced. The bridge will be built and operated by a private sector company in partnership with TfL.

Construction of a pair of road bridges along a spectacular section of the New South Wales coast is to start soon. The US$38 million structures have been chosen as the preferred option to replace a section of the Lawrence Hargrave Drive which was closed last year because of subsidence and rock falls. The bridges will snake for 665m parallel to the cliff face.

Hyder Consulting is designing a new bridge over Romania's River Siret as the existing 435m double decker road and rail structure does not meet European standards. Building a new road bridge alongside will allow the rail line to continue on its current route. Completion is targeted for 2006.

The US Federal Highways Administration has launched a website promoting the advantages of prefabricated bridge elements and systems. The site covers the available technology, key projects, forthcoming events, latest research and publications in the sector. It is at [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/prefab/index.htm] (opens in new window).

A draft technical evaluation report on the Peace Bridge expansion project recommends building a second bridge alongside instead of replacing the original 1927 structure. The 26 page report looks at ways of catering for traffic growth on the crossing between Buffalo, New York with Fort Erie, Ontario. Many structural options are examined, with total costs of a new companion bridge estimated at US$175 million to US$195 million. A replacement bridge is put at US$260 million to US$275 million. The report concludes that that there is no structural or economic reason to remove the existing bridge. The amount spent on demolition could give it another 75 years of life alongside a second bridge.

A striking curved steel arch has been chosen for a new crossing of the River Cam in Cambridge, England. Judges this week selected the entry by WhitbyBird and sculptor Gerry Judah from a field of six international submissions. A public poll had also favoured the winning design, which includes a low level walkway, a separate and slightly elevated cycleway and a number of sculpted seats. “I am confident it will become a much-loved landmark in the city in years to come,” said Cambridgeshire County Council cabinet member Shona Johnstone. Work is set to start on the bridge early next year and it could be open by early 2006.

Several Indian rail bridges which had been due for replacement have been proved safe by a programme of non-destructive testing. Keeping the bridges will save Indian Railways some US$2.2 million. Research Designs & Standards Organisation – which is part of Indian Railways - used a combination of techniques including acoustic emission, pulse velocity and corrosion measurement to test seven distressed bridges. Indian Railways is responsible for 120,000 bridges across the country.

Italy's transport ministry has said that it plans to build the record-breaking Messina Bridge despite the European parliament voting yesterday to stop EU funding for the scheme. The 3.3km suspension bridge had been regarded as a priority pan-European transport scheme but met opposition from several political parties.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has agreed to provide over US$60 million to finance the construction of a bridge over the River Sava in Belgrade. The bridge will span the river at Ada Ciganlija.

Iowa Department of Transportation is promoting the use of discarded tyre shavings to fill expansion joints in its bridges following successful field trials. Previously the US state had used foam blocks which were tending to come loose and float away leaving gaps of 100mm or more between the deck and roadway. The tyre shavings are heavier than water and are not a significant hazard if they do become dislodged. They are a by-product of the tyre retreading industry and would otherwise be sent to landfill.

Work is set to restart at the Hood Canal Bridge’s graving dock site following an agreement about how to conduct the archaeological investigation. Construction was suspended last August when archaeological items were discovered. A memorandum of agreement will be signed next week by the parties involved, including Washington State Department of Transportation and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

In-situ heating is to be used to speed up the repair of a damaged bridge in northern England. A steel beam on Floriston Bridge over the A74 was struck by a lorry-borne crane, buckling a 7.5m length. Repair work will start next week, using blowtorches to heat the damaged section a few centimetres at a time. The beam will be allowed to contract on cooling, to resume its original shape. The technique has previously been used to straighten bridges US, but is rare in Britain. "This innovative repair method will take just two weeks, while removing and replacing the damaged beam would take at least a month,” said Highways Agency project manager Paul Turner. This is also reflected in the cost of the work, which will be US$330,000, compared to the US$740,000 cost of replacement.

Construction has started on a Japanese-funded project to upgrade 38 bridges in the Mekong delta region of Vietnam’s Hau Giang province. The work is aimed at improving rural access and boosting economic development. Japan’s government has provided US$100 million for the project, which follows on from earlier schemes in Vietnam’s north and central regions.

Closure of the arch on the new Svinesund Bridge between Norway and Sweden took place as Bd&e went to press. The arch, which uses high strength concrete is currently being built out from both banks of the fjord using the free cantilever method.

An iron bridge by Isambard Kingdom Brunel has been discovered beneath a modern brick bridge in London. The chance discovery came just before the demolition of the modern structure was due to start. The bridge's existence had been unknown until an English Heritage inspector found records and drawings while studying a set of Brunel's notebooks. It is now being dismantled and rebuilt by 2006 in time for the 200th anniversary of Brunel's birth.

Cleveland Bridge is planning to cut up to 240 staff and manual jobs, accounting for a quarter of its workforce. The Darlington-based company will consult staff, trade unions and community representatives about how best to make the cuts. "Despite our recent success, the market has changed," said Cleveland Bridge UK deputy managing director Brian Rogan. "The big projects are coming to a close and there are few such projects available in the short term."

An international competition will be launched next month to choose the team to design and construct Mumbai's 22.5km Trans Harbour Link Bridge. The four lane highway will be India's longest sea link, connecting South Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai. It will cross the harbour in spans of 50m to 150m at a typical elevation of 12m, except for three navigation spans with 25m clearances. These three are envisaged as using a precast post-tensioned extradosed segmental box girder deck system with single layer central cable stays.

A Pennsylvania bridge won a top prize this week in the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s annual awards for excellence in community relations and public education. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was praised for the way it involved the public in the dedication ceremony for the Danville-Riverside Bridge when over 1000 people signed a commemorative photograph. One of the joint second place winners was a memorial of the fatal bridge collapse at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.

A key river crossing in the US state of Virginia has been closed indefinitely because of scour damage to one of its timber piers. Virginia Department of Transportation engineers decided to close the 65-year-old swing-span drawbridge as soon as they inspected the erosion. Motorists now face a 100km detour until it reopens. The 29 span, 385m bridge over the Chickahominy River was officially named the Judith Stewart Dresser Memorial Bridge last year but is commonly known as Barrett’s Ferry Bridge. Design of a US$19 million replacement bridge was already planned, with design due to start in 2006.

H2L2 Architects and Leonhardt, Andra & Partner have won the design competition for a bridge to Dubai’s island development The Palm at Jumeira. Developer Nakeel unveiled the design of the concrete bridge which incorporates steel space frames and statues of the seven ancient wonders of the world. "The Palm has been conceived and built on one premise – to create the eighth wonder of the world", said Nakheel chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. The main contractor is Belhassa Six.

Sheppey Route has signed a contract to design, build, finance and operate a new £100 million road bridge linking Sheppey with North Kent in southern England. Sheppey Route, which was set up by Carillion Private Finance, is building the bridge as part of a 30 year concession for the A249 Iwade Bypass to Queenborough improvement scheme. Construction of the bridge will start soon for completion in 2006.

A worker was killed yesterday when two cranes collapsed while removing the original Sikorsky Memorial Bridge over the River Housatonic in Connecticut. The cranes were working from barges removing deck girders when one fell into the river and the other's boom snapped. The new bridge opened to traffic in November and the project as a whole is due for completion next year. This is the second fatal crane collapse on a US bridge scheme this week.

Construction is set to start this year on a 980m suspension bridge over the River Danube from Braila to Macin in eastern Romania. Premier Adrian Nastase held a meeing in Beijing this week with China Road & Bridge Corporation president Zhou Jichang to discuss the US$300 million project. It will be built as a build-operate-transfer scheme with Chinese finance backed by the Romanian government. The next few months will be spent finalising the cost and identifying sources of materials and local companies to participate. Details will be confirmed in May with a view to signing the contract in June. The three year construction period is due to start in the third quarter of 2004.

Three people were killed yesterday when a crane collapsed at a bridge construction site in Ohio, US. The crane was being used as part of a US$277 million scheme to build a new crossing alongside the existing Craig Memorial Bridge over the Maumee River near Toledo. The crane was apparently moving but not carrying any of the 85t deck sections when it collapsed. An investigation is under way.

Florida's new Bryant Patton Bridge has been completed, joining St George Island with the mainland. The 6.6km post-tensioned concrete structure replaces two existing bridges and a causeway across the environmentally sensitive waters of Apalachicola Bay, famed for shellfish. Boh Brothers Construction and Jacobs Civil carried out the US$71.7 million design and build contract. Parsons Brinkerhoff Construction Services represented client Florida Department of Transportation on the project.

Bechtel has announced the reopening of the south span of Al Mat Bridge, a vital link between Iraq and Jordan. The bridge suffered extensive damage during the conflict, and a temporary 3km bypass was opened in July 2003 to enable reconstruction to start. Bechtel subcontracted the construction to local contractor Al Qarya Company and completion of the north span of the bridge is expected next month. The route carries over 3,000 trucks a day, bringing humanitarian aid and goods to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities from Jordan.

Construction of a replacement for Temple Mills Bridge over London’s River Lea is

Councillors in Poole, England will be asked tonight to give the go ahead for consultation on a US$65 million lifting bridge. The six week process will pave the way for the borough to apply for government approval to start construction. Central government has allocated US$29 million towards the scheme.

Environmental assessment is set to start for a bridge which will prevent a remote part of Canada from being regularly cut off by road. Draft terms of reference were issued last week for the assessment of Mackenzie River Bridge in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Vehicles currently drive over the frozen river in winter and use a ferry service in warmer weather. But there is no access by road when the ice starts to break up, leaving communities dependent on air-lifted supplies. The US$41.5 million project, promoted by Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, involves construction of a 1.045km steel and concrete composite bridge with nine continuous spans.

The Rion Antirion Bridge is a landmark in a new era for Greece, said prime minister Costas Simitis during a visit to inspect construction this week. He predicted that the suspension bridge will help fuel development in western Greece, creating thousands of jobs and opportunities in tourism. Simitis said that the project was progressing at record speed. The Olympic torch relay is scheduled to pass over the new bridge in August, with the contract’s completion due at the end of this year.

Colorado-based fabricator Grand Junction Steel has won a US$42 million contract to supply the steel girders for a new interchange in Houston, Texas. There are 14 bridges in the project to link Interstate 10 and Interstate 610 and the company will produce over 20,000t of girders over the next three years. Project client is the Texas Department of Transportation, and the main contractor is Williams Brothers Construction.

An international field of competitors has submitted designs for a segregated pedestrian and cycle bridge for Cambridge, England.

Eiffage director general Marc Legrand has said that the Millau Viaduct could open on 20 December this year. Work is ahead of schedule and the record breaking piers were completed last month.

The Knik Arm Bridge & Toll Authority plans to appoint consultants to identify engineering issues surrounding the proposed 2.1km crossing from the Port of Anchorage to Port MacKenzie in Alaska. Areas to be addressed include the impact of ice floes on construction and the bridge’s effect on the whale population. The bridge would cost at least US$400 million. Federal funds are in place for the estimated US$1 million consultancy.

Piling starts this week for the new cable stayed bridge over the Penobscot River between Prospect and Verona in Maine, US. The US$50 million bridge replaces the elegant steel Waldo Hancock crossing which opened in 1931. Fort Knox is close by and an observatory has been proposed for the top of one of the pylons. A contracting joint venture of Cianbro and Reed & Reed started on site in December and the designer is Figg Engineering.

Skanska has been appointed to coordinate a European initiative to improve rail bridges to cope with changes in loading. The Sustainable Bridges programme assesses the likely demands in 2020 and provides the means for upgrading if bridges fall short. Heavier loads and bigger forces will need to be carried with the increase in longer, faster trains and mixed traffic.

Caerphilly Borough Council has signed a US$69 million agreement for the construction of a cable stayed bridge and 4.3km of road in the Sirhowy Valley, South Wales. A consortium of Laing Roads and Costain Engineering & Construction has a 30 year concession to design, build, finance and operate the project.

A joint venture of Traylor Pacific and Weeks Construction is the lowest bidder for the tower foundations for the new eastern span of California’s Bay Bridge. The joint venture’s price of US$174.5 million beat three other bids of up to US$182.8 million. This was the second time that the contract had been tendered. Only one bidder had responded last year, and client Caltrans had rejected the price of US$210 million. Bidding for the towers takes place later this year.

Contractors have cast the first 80t precast segment for the Maryland approach to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the eastern US. Segments are up to 12.5m wide and 5.5m deep and over 600 will be needed for the 1.1km stretch from the Maryland shore to the bridge’s bascule span. The target is to produce one every other day. The Maryland approach contract is being carried out by Potomac Constructors, a joint venture of Edward Kraemer & Sons and American Bridge Company.

Concrete from a redundant Rhode Island bridge will be used to make artificial reefs to create new fishing and diving opportunities. The US state’s department of transportation has accepted engineering company Gordon R Archibald’s recommendation for the disposal of Jamestown Bridge. The bridge’s 6000t of steel will be salvaged and recycled while the 29,000m³ of concrete will be used for reefs at one or two offshore sites.

Ho Chi Minh City’s transport board is preparing to start construction of the second Tan Thuan Bridge this month. The 421m crossing will cost US$22 million. It will help ease traffic pressure on the existing Tan Thuan Bridge and boost development in the southern part of the city.

The eastern caisson of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge is due to be set down on the seabed today. Precise electronic controls will enable crews to adjust the 39,000t caisson’s tilt and buoyancy, eventually filling 15 hollow cells with 17,500t of seawater. Strong currents in both directions and a 5.5m tidal range make the task more challenging than on many other projects. The western caisson of the US$849 million suspension bridge was successfully positioned last month.

Cleveland Bridge has pulled out the stops to replace 155t of Rion-Antirion Bridge’s steelwork which had been lost at sea during a severe storm. The six steel plate girders were fabricated at the company’s facility in Darlington, England, and delivered within 10 weeks to the site at the Gulf of Corinth in Greece.

Bangladesh’s communications ministry has proposed a levy to help pay for the proposed Padma bridge. The levy would be applied across a number of areas such as airfares, bridge tolls, savings interest, utility billls and driving licences. At over 6km, the bridge would be the longest in the country. Construction could start next year.

The first span of a temporary work trestle has been assembled at the Hood Canal Bridge project, enabling contractor Kiewit-General to work through the juvenile fish migration season which starts this week. Environmental rules preclude work in the water during the months of the migration. Meanwhile, Washington State continues negotiations with local tribal leaders to resume work at the project’s graving yard following last year’s find of archaeological items.

The proposed Thames Gateway Bridge in London, England was today offered financial backing by the national Department of Transport. The US$825 million project would provide a local link east of the city to help create jobs and housing. It would be constructed and operated by a private sector company in partnership with the mayor’s Transport for London body, using a private finance initiative structure.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held last week to mark the start of two record-breaking bridges across the Yangtze in Chongqing, China. TY Lin International is responsible for the main spans of both structures.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has announced that it is to go ahead with US$640 million plans for an interchange and bridge scheme to connect the I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. There have been calls for the project for many years, and the US federal government has now chosen a preferred option. Design alone is expected to cost US$40 million and work could start on site in 2007.

A design competition for a new river crossing in Cambridge, England, has attracted an international field of competitors. Firms are due to submit their entries this month in answer to Cambridge County Council’s call for a visually striking and memorable structure. The public will be invited to comment on the designs, and a decision is expected in April.

Final steps are being carried out on the scheme to replace Florida’s congested Hathaway Bridge with a new crossing of twice the capacity.

Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs has said that it would not be cost effective to build a new bridge to replace its part of the Johor Causeway linking Singapore and Malaysia. The bridge would cost over US$290 million, and would sterilise the use of the land underneath, said Professor S Jayakumar.