Heavy equipment for bridge construction

Construction work for bridges carried out by heavy equipment can be classified into the categories of earthwork, roadwork and lifting machineries. Vivek Gautam, COO - Strategic Business Group – Core Infra, Tata Projects, says, “Utilisation of the latest equipment such as girder launchers, gantry, high-capacity boring machines and cranes or cable cranes will achieve reduction in construction time, and cost and supervision charges.”  Modern bridge construction calls for the deployment of specially designed launching girders, RCD rigs, rigs capable of handling larger diameter of piles (even up to 3 m), floating crafts, jack-up barges, barge-mounted batching plants, hammer grabs and vibro hammers that reduce construction time and improve quality—also used at the recently inaugurated third Mandovi Bridge, explains SV Desai, Executive Vice-President & Head - Heavy Civil Infrastructure IC, L&T Construction. He says similar equipment is being deployed at the ongoing Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project for marine and intertidal piling works.And Shashikant Limaye, Member Expert Committee, Pune Metro Project, adds, “For MTHL, spans of 80-150 m have been conceived with steel box girder configuration with orthotropic decks. An advance CRT rig has been deployed to carry out piling for pier foundations. Pre-casting of wide concrete segments and then carrying and erecting them is another feature.”SHRIYAL SETHUMADHAVAN