The Second Penang Bridge Project: Planning, Design, Construction and Maintenance

The 24 km dual carriageway Sultan Abdul Halim bridge project, Penang’s second link was completed in 2014. On the island end is Batu Maung which houses the Penang International Airport. On the mainland is Batu Kawan. The main navigation span consist of a cast-in-situ cable stayed concrete bridge with span arrangement of 117.5m +240m + 117.5m. The approach bridge consist of 55m precast segmental box girders constructed span by span supported on high damping rubber bearing on reinforced concrete piers. Bored piles of 2m diameter are used for the cable stayed bridge and 1.5m at the mudflats of Batu Kawan. Driven 1.0m diameter spun piles are used at most of the pier locations and 1.6m diameter steel pipe piles at chainages where very high piers and deep seabed level is encountered. The 7 km land expressway on the Batu Kawan side traverses on high embankment build along low lying ground of very soft compressible ground extending up to 23m thick. Long term post construction settlement of 50mm for the first 20 years of service requires longer period of surcharge for both the prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) and vibro stone columns (SC). PVD and SC were design for embankment height up to 4.5m and 10m, piled embankment for higher bridge approaches. Once a vast and vacant territory, Batu Kawan is now linked to major highways to other states in the peninsular by the land expressway. In addition to the high number of research facilities that are being set up and with the state government is creating and education hub, making Batu Kawan a prime location for further development. This paper shall describe in detail the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the Second Penang Bridge project.