Flood areas to benefit from rapid new bridge design
Flood hit areas of the UK devastated by record rainfall this winter could be about to benefit from exciting new technology from ECS Engineering Services. The engineering firm are bridging the gap in terms of getting relief to flood damaged areas with a new bridge design that can be assembled within three weeks.
In the wake of the recent flooding events, many district and local authorities are faced with the challenge of replacing large numbers of damaged and broken bridges as soon as possible. Speed of repair and returning life to normal quickly is vital in the aftermath of these challenging situations. This is especially so for key transport routes across damaged bridges that has left communities separated or key transport arteries impassable, with inevitable knock on effects to access and on-going commercial activity.
Complete bridges in as little as three weeks
ECS Engineering Services have recently installed new bridge technologies and designs that have proven to be highly successful, both in the UK and across Europe. The bridge designs use a material called InfraCore Inside, which utilises advanced FRP composites to provide the required strength and safety standards, but equally importantly, the capability to manufacture and install bridges quickly.
Clarke Williamson, Director of Contracts for ECS, commented,
Utilising standard designs for the InfraCore Inside bridges means that we have been able to manufacture and supply complete bridges in as little as three weeks for small standard units or only five weeks for longer or heavy traffic designs. Which, given the current challenges that some areas are facing, could be vital in getting these communities operating and back to normal as quickly as possible.
Bridging the gap with new innovations and technologies
Bridge repair and replacement can be costly, complicated and above all time consuming. This requires considerable engineering expertise, project management skills and often innovative approaches to highly challenging circumstances that were never envisaged when the bridges were first built. However, it also provides an opportunity to utilise new innovations and technologies that may be better suited to changing weather patterns.
InfraCore Inside bridges come fully prefabricated, in any colour. They are finished with an epoxy-bonded wear surface that doesn’t rot, corrode or degrade over time. Multiple bridge segments can be joined to create a variety of bridge widths. When required, bridges can also be constructed in conjunction with other materials, such as using an InfraCore Inside deck on a primary structure in steel or concrete.
This combines the best of both materials. Due to the use of these innovative composite materials the bridges come with a 50 year guarantee and have been tested to survive for 100 years.
InfraCore Inside bridges offer considerable advantages
The low weight of InfraCore Inside bridges brings a number of considerable advantages. One is that only a simple foundation is needed. Often a shallow foundation suffices, such as a precast concrete slab.
InfraCore Inside bridges are easy to transport and can be installed quickly with a light crane. Also, since the bridges float, they can be transported to the project site on the water, which is especially advantageous in restricted areas where access via road is prohibitive.
All of these are considerations which will be important to local and district authorities working hard to get their local communities operating successfully again as quickly as possible.
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