Beer Sheva Footbridge, Rokach-Ashkenazi Engineers

The Beer Sheva Footbridge is a two-span lenticular truss bridge. The slender design and flexible piers cause several low frequencies in each of the three primary directions. In order to stiffen the bridge and still allow thermal expansion, a friction-based connection was designed which resists human induced vibration loads but slips under the large thermal loads. Stiffening the bridge in this way raised the frequency to 1.72Hz and lowered the participating mass to 24%. 6 TMD devices were designed for the bridge for vertical and horizontal vibrations.

On the eve of the 18th of June, all railway traffic was stopped and during a nightlong operation the southern span was lifted into place and welded to its supports. This span has a mass of 230 tons. The 430 ton northern span was lifted during a second operation and welded to its supports. Throughout the entire construction, the traffic was interrupted for less than 24 hours.

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