Taking advantage of the night to repair Phong Thu bridge

Barriers temporarily stopped traffic passing through the bridge at 11 p.m. on May 20. Photo: CONG TU

Through a survey and inspection of Phong Thu bridge, the Quang Nam Department of Construction said that at pier T1, there were 2 mobile bearings that were misaligned. The steel plate parts of the mobile bearings at pier T1 and T2 as well as the cross beam joints were damaged. All 4 rubber expansion joints were peeled off; cracks appeared along the bridge deck at spans 1 and 2.

In order to maintain the bridge's operational capacity (the operational load will be determined after repair, inspection, and calculation), to serve the people's travel needs, the Provincial People's Committee has decided to invest in the Phong Thu Bridge repair project. The scale of damage repair to maintain operational capacity is appropriate to the actual conditions of the bridge. Accordingly, the current bridge consists of 3 simple T-shaped reinforced concrete girder spans 21m long (span diagram 3x21m), the average bridge width is 8.5m (6m for vehicles, 1.25m wide for pedestrians on each side).

Prepare necessary conditions to lift the beam. Photo: CONG TU

The Department of Construction was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee as the investor. Director of the Department of Construction - Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam said that the total investment of the project is more than 1.24 billion VND, mainly to repair damages to maintain the technical level of the current bridge. The construction is carried out by repairing damaged items such as bridge bearings, expansion joints, cross beam joints, bridge deck coating, and reinforcing the anti-erosion of the pier to maintain the current bridge's operational capacity. Inspection and load testing are the basis for proposing the installation of load restriction signs according to the regulations in QCVN 41:2024/BGTVT.

In order not to affect the large volume of traffic passing through Phong Thu Bridge during the day and to ensure the quality of the construction repair, the contractor mainly carries out some major items at night. Therefore, the Department of Construction has announced a temporary suspension of traffic on the bridge for cars, trucks and other motor vehicles (except for motorbikes, scooters and rudimentary vehicles that are allowed to circulate normally).

[ VIDEO ] - Barrier within 2 hours to serve the construction of important items of the project:

Deputy Director of the Quang Nam Traffic Infrastructure Management Center (Department of Construction) - Mr. Huynh Le Tuan said that the temporary suspension of traffic will only be interrupted for 15 minutes every hour from 11pm to 5am on May 19 to May 24, 2025 to repair and strengthen the cross-connection. Particularly, from 11pm on May 20 to 1am on May 21, 2025, traffic will be temporarily suspended for exactly 2 hours to repair the bridge bearings.

At 11pm yesterday, May 20, the contractor set up barriers and guards to block vehicles from crossing the bridge so they could focus on lifting the beams and returning the mobile bearings of the T1 pier, which had been displaced, to their original positions. This work was completed at 1am today, May 21. "This is the only temporary traffic stop during the construction period of the Phong Thu bridge repair project," said Mr. Huynh Le Tuan.

Proceed to jack up the beam, returning the mobile bearings of the T1 pillar, which were misaligned, to their original position. Photo: CONG TU

It is known that the project started on May 9, and is expected to complete the items according to the contract on June 23, 2025. The contractor strives to complete the project on June 10 this year. It can be affirmed that the repair of Phong Thu bridge, although the cost is only over 1.24 billion VND, plays a very important role in ensuring the safety of the bridge project and maintaining traffic on the East-West arterial route DT609.

On December 23, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3538 approving the project to upgrade and expand Phong Thu bridge with a total investment of 125 billion VND from the provincial budget. The project will be implemented in the period of 2022 - 2025 on a permanent scale.

Accordingly, the abutments and pillars of the old bridge will be kept intact and a new span structure will be built. The new bridge, located on the left side of the old bridge, will build a new bridge unit with a cross-section of 9m, a bridge length of 74m; the approach roads at both ends of the bridge will be 255m. The width of the bridge after completion will be 18.9m for the traffic lane; 1.5m for the median strip, railings and sidewalks. Due to the lack of resources, the project cannot be implemented in the field. However, the construction of the new bridge will only have one unit; the abutments and pillars of the old bridge will remain intact.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/tranh-thu-ban-dem-sua-chua-cau-phong-thu-3155246.html