General Information
Project Type
| Structure: |
Box girder bridge |
|---|---|
| Function / usage: |
Motorway bridge / freeway bridge |
| Structure: |
Haunched girder bridge |
| Material: |
Steel-reinforced concrete composite bridge |
| Support conditions: |
for registered users |
| Plan view: |
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| Material: |
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Location
| Location: |
Bristol, South West England, England, United Kingdom Portbury, Somerset, South West England, England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Crosses: |
|
| Coordinates: | 51° 29' 19.80" N 2° 41' 34.77" W |
Technical Information
Dimensions
| main span | 164 m | |
| total length | 1 388 m |
Materials
| piers |
reinforced concrete
|
|---|---|
| deck slab |
reinforced concrete
|
| girders |
steel
|
Excerpt from Wikipedia
The Avonmouth Bridge is a road bridge that carries the M5 motorway over the River Avon into Somerset near Bristol, England. The main span is 538 ft (164 m) long, and the bridge is 4,554 ft (1,388 m) long, with an air draught above mean high water level of 98.4 ft (30 m). It also has a separate footpath and cycleway which connects with Avonmouth station.
Construction
The bridge was built with three lanes each way, with full hard shoulders. In 2002-04, it was widened to four lanes each way, with the result that the hard shoulders are no longer of full width.
The bridge was built to allow tall ships underneath. This gave the bridge steep gradients that cause heavy vehicles to slow down, resulting in congestion during rush hour and the summer tourist season: traffic can back up both on the bridge and on the approaches.
The construction contract was let to Fairfield-Mabey and commenced in 1969; Fairfield-Mabey placed a sub-contract with Tarmac Civil Engineering for the foundations, piers and deck concreting works.
Surface
The approach and initial climb up the bridge have a smooth asphalt surface; however, on the top of the bridge the surface was uneven and bumpy when it was built. In September 2006, it was announced that the entire bridge would be resurfaced, only five years after the last resurfacing. This was completed in November 2009 by the construction firm Stirling Lloyd. However, the surfacing was carried out by Stirling Lloyd's partners Aeschlimann AG from Switzerland using its own workforce and also importing all the plant used. A new type of asphalt called Gussasphalt was used on the bridge deck, The project was managed by Stirling Lloyd's Darren Holmes. In addition to having a smooth, skid-resistant finish, it requires no compaction and can be applied in very thin layers (Each layer only 25 mm thick), thus reducing the weight added to the bridge. It is also flexible and as a result should last longer than the previous resurfacing.
Text imported from Wikipedia article "Avonmouth Bridge" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.
Participants
- Freeman Fox & Partners
- Bernard Wex (designer)
- A. R. Rees (resident engineer)
Relevant Web Sites
Relevant Publications
- (1994): Brücken / Bridges. Ästhetik und Gestaltung / Aesthetics and Design. 4th edition, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (Germany), pp. 170.
- (1977): La construction du pont d'Avonmouth (Grande-Bretagne). In: Acier = Stahl = Steel, v. 42 (May 1977), pp. 161-168.
- (1990): Les grands ponts du monde: Ponts remarquables d'Europe. Brissaud, Poitiers (France), pp. 276.
- Hidden strength - The Avonmouth Bridge. In: Welding & Metal Fabrication, v. 67, n. 5 (June 1999), pp. 8-9.
- (2011): Structural Management of Avonmouth Bridge. Presented at: 35th Annual Symposium of IABSE / 52nd Annual Symposium of IASS / 6th International Conference on Space Structures: Taller, Longer, Lighter - Meeting growing demand with limited resources, London, United Kingdom, September 2011.
- About this
data sheet - Structure-ID
20005069 - Published on:
16/09/2002 - Last updated on:
22/02/2022
