The Southern bridge
The Southern Bridge is the most significant and far-reaching construction project of Transport Systems in the Baltic States in the last 25 years. Because of its design, industry experts consider the Southern Bridge one of the most advanced structures in Eastern Europe.
The idea of the necessity for a southern bridge in Riga is very old. Back in 1937, urban development plans for Riga designated a site for the bridge; however, construction only commenced in 2004.
The Southern Bridge is 803 m in length and 34.28 m in width; it contains six traffic lanes, three in each direction. The structure of the bridge consists of 10 abutments, six pylons and eight cable stays.
The task of the Southern Bridge is to facilitate traffic between the south-western part of Pardaugava and districts on the right bank of Riga, without crossing the downtown area and thus reducing congestion. Also, the bridge redirects through-traffic away from the city centre and reduces the strain on the other city bridges. Stage one of the construction of the Southern Bridge was completed in November 2008. At the moment, second stage of the project is developed and it includes complex system of access roads. Third and final stage of the Southern Bridge is in the planning phase.
Construction of the eastern trunk road overpass from Gaujas street in Riga
The Project was commissioned by the Transport Department of the Riga City Council. The construction of the Eastern Trunk Road overpass was done in October 2008 and the costs reached approximately 8.4 million lats (VAT excluded). The work is still in progress.
Construction of oil storage tanks in Ventspils
The project was commissioned by JSC “Ventspils Nafta” and in total three oil and petroleum product storage despots were built. The first depot consists of two diesel storage tanks with double steel walls with a capacity of 20 000 m3 each. The second comprises two oil storage tanks with a capacity of 50 000 m3 each. The third depot combines five oil and diesel fuel storage tanks with a capacity of 20 000 m3 each. The works also included the dismantling of four oil tanks and the construction of utility lines.
Construction of a motor vehicle bridge and access roads across the Buļļupe river in Riga
In 2002, JSC “Latvijas tilti” participated as a sub-contractor in the construction of a motor vehicle bridge and temporary access roads across the Buļļupe River. JSC “Latvijas tilti” built and installed the foundation grillage, struts and cross-braces. Before work was commenced, 50 reinforced concrete girders of 63 t each were produced for the deck structure. The girders were transported from the base facility of JSC “Latvijas tilti” to the construction site and assembled there using floating cranes and a KATO-75. Works took place in an urban setting with countless utility lines, under complex conditions, without interrupting the flow of traffic across an adjacent bridge and without interrupting boat traffic on the river. This is the first entirely new bridge built in the restored Republic of Latvia.
Construction of a motor vehicle bridge in Ventspils
The new motor vehicle bridge across the Venta River in Ventspils was built between March 2008 and May 2009. The idea for the construction arose when it became necessary to develop the port area located behind the existing bridge. Structures by the Dutch section of Janson Bridging were used in constructing sections of the new bridge. The assembly of sectional structures was carried out in four stages by using floating systems:
• joint assembly of the 50 t blocks of the sectional structure on the riverbank using a 75 t motorised crane;
• transverse sliding of the sectional blocks from the bank on to a slipway using VSL jacks, for further loading on to the pontoons of the floating system;
• on-deck fusing of the floating system with the sectional block, from the slipway to the site where it mounted on to the bridge abutments;
• assembly of the sectional blocks using a floating system consisting of a pontoon and a caterpillar crane with a lifting capacity of 100 t.
“Marine park”
Ventspils port oil pier No 3 was built in 1979. During its operation and following several dredgings, the “sheet pile bulwark quay structures” suffered wall joint deformations of up to 50 cm. According to the tender results, JSC “BMGS” was able to offer the most appropriate project solution, which was implemented in two stages in 2008 and 2009. As one of the conditions of the commissioning party was to not interrupt the loading operations of tankers, rebuilding was carried out gradually, disconnecting one side of the pier at a time. Works were carried out using both a traditional floating apparatus and a JB-102 self-lifting platform.
Wharf in St. Petersburg, Russia
As part of the first stage of construction of hydraulic structures at the Vasilievsky Island Marine Passenger Terminal in St. Petersburg, JSC “BMGS” was assigned to construct the South End, which consists of vertical bank revetments. The length of the South End is 362 m, which amounts to approximately 25 per cent of the total length of the first-stage hydraulic engineering works.
In order to ensure the execution of the work volume assigned to it, JSC “BMGS” used both its own and an outside technical fleet. The piled foundation work was largely completed within five months – between August and December 2006 – whereas the overlying structure was completed within three months, from April to June 2007. Stage two began in 2007.
To protect the newly formed area from the effects of waves, the main efforts of construction participants were directed towards installing the external wall of the quays. The driving of outside joints was carried out in two process flows moving towards each other. The rate of submersion of the pile components was 36 units per week, or 110 m of external wall per month.
Construction of a coal pier in Ventspils
The construction of a coal pier in Ventspils with a depth of 16.2 m and a length of 350 m, was carried out between January and December 2008. The cost of construction reached 11.9 million euro (VAT excluded). In summer of 2007, JSC “Latvijas tilti” began manufacturing the metal structures for the coal storage facility located in the quay area of the Ventspils Free Port for later assembly on site. The area of the closed storage was 24 000 m2 with a capacity of 210 000 t. In May 2007, the assembly of suspended conveyor paths with the total length of 300 m commenced. In January 2008, the construction of a private 350 m coal pier began. The coal pier has berths on both sides and can admit ships with a capacity of 120 000 t.
Salu bridge in Riga
The Salu Bridge across the Daugava in Riga was built between 1975 and 1976. The bridge was opened under the name Moscow Bridge in late 1976. The total length of the bridge is 3.5 km; its course contains 21 structures: two large bridges, nine ramps, five access roads, three tunnels at the lower level of the bridge and two bridges across distributaries. The foundation of the bridge abutments consists of bored piles with a diameter of 1.5 m, sunk to a depth of 30 m. The abutments consist of monolith concrete with a granite finish.
Motor vehicle bridge across the Gauja River on the Ādaži-Kadaga road
The bridge over the Gauja River on the Ādaži-Kadaga road was put into commission in December 2007. It was awarded second place in the category of engineering structures in the 2007 Best Construction Projects of Latvia competition.
The structure of pre-stressed concrete sections is supported by five abutments. The 80 m riverbed section supports the channel section of the structure on adjustable metal support hangers. The monolith abutments are reinforced by 12 m prismatic piles. The structure of monolith pre-stressed concrete sections was built on pre-fabricated full-support staging, supported by girders mounted on tubular piles driven into the riverbed.
Pedestrian bridge across the Riga-Jurmala motorway at Beberbeķu street
A metal-tube arch constructed from 400 mm tubes, 400 x 200 x 16 rectangular cross-braces and nine hangers on each side spans the Riga-Jūrmala motorway. The width of the bridge crossing is 2.75 m. Strut supports are built on bored 620 mm piles. Two 5.5 m tall spiral stairways are on each side of the road. The cost of the pedestrian bridge was 912 000 euro.
Single-span concrete cable-stayed bridge across the Emajõgi river in Tartu, Estonia
The bridge is 82m long and 23.23m high, with a total width of 18.75m. Bridge support walls with a total length of 240m have been constructed along the river. The bridge is suspended from four cables with the total length of 108m and weight of approximately 10 t. The total cost of construction amounted to approximately 9 million euro.
Sochi
The Russian resort of Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. By then, 11 sports venues with a total capacity of 200 000 seats must be constructed. Broad infrastructure will be constructed alongside the sports venues, allowing Sochi to claim the status of a European-level resort after the Games conclude.
The Sochi cargo port area will become an important object of the Olympic infrastructure. The port area is located on the shore of the Black Sea between the Mzimta and Psou Rivers in the Adlersky District of Sochi. It will feature eight universal wharves with the maximum depth of 9.2 m.
At present, JSC “BMGS” is taking part in one of the principal stages of the construction of the Sochi cargo port: shore reinforcement and the construction of breakwaters and the south-western jetty. The construction of the entire facility is scheduled to be completed in November 2010. The port facility will consist of quays, shore protection structures and shore infrastructure. The port will occupy approximately 800 m of the shoreline and will be able to accommodate ships with the capacity of up to 5 500 t and lengths up to 140 m. In 2010, the port will be able to receive total cargoes of up to five million tonnes. After the completion of the Sochi Olympic facilities, the cargo port will be transformed into a yacht harbour.
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