The Anchorage, An Unexpected Journey

The Älvsborg Bridge was opened to traffic in 1966. The Bridge was built between 1963 and 1966 and the bridge has undergone rehabilitation and improvement during its lifetime. The secondary hangers have been exchanged and dehumidification have been installed on the cables. Railing separating pedestrians and vehicles has been improved and the waterproofing is undergoing exchange.

During a routine inspection of dehumidification, aug 2016, an anchorage failure was observed. In the north west anchorage one of the fiftyfive lock coil cables was spotted laying on the bottom of the spreading chamber.

A number of inspections and investigations including endoscope inspections and safety calculation has been performed. Short term measurements and long term has been evaluated. Starting from limited knowledge of the condition the owner, Swedish Transport Administration (STA) now has a good picture of the condition and plans for repairs.

The damage highlights the need of inspection methods of “non inspectable” parts on bridges from the past as well as needs to design inspectable solutions on critical bridge parts in the future.