TAP Rehabilitates 92m Bridge While Keeping Road Traffic Open

For the first time in Albania, TAP refurbished an access bridge using a structural strengthening method that allowed to maintain road traffic open. The bridge, 92m long and 7m wide, is located in Mbrostar, at the entrance to the town of Fier, and serves as the main access point along the route from Durrës to the South of Albania (Vlore). 

The location and the volume of daily traffic did not allow the bridge to be closed for a complete replacement of the deck, so another non-intrusive technique was needed. To evaluate the bearing capacity, a preliminary investigation was carried out: inspection, scrabbling of the concrete material and laboratory tests.

The refurbishment of bridge was performed by applying longitudinal strands to the existing beams of the bridge, new mobile structural bearings and new expansion joints. The substitution of the expansion joints will be performed during the application of asphalt layers.

Structural strengthening of the bridge (increasing the bearing capacity / longitudinal pre-stressing of girders and pre-stressing of crossbeams with strands / replacement of all mobile bearings) was executed with suspended scaffolds below the bridge and without any kind of disturbance to public traffic.

The refurbishment was completed in six weeks and is another good example of technology transfer to Albania.