Maputo-Catembe bridge: Last deck section to be laid on Wednesday

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Maputo-Catembe bridge: Last deck section to be laid on Wednesday

3:20 CAT | 23 Oct 2017

O País / Maputo Sul says that nothing will compromise the completion of the works by December

The laying of the Maputo-Catembe Bridge suspended deck is nearing completion with the last section due to be inserted in an official ceremony on Wednesday. The assembly of the metal deck took only 22 days, against a forecast of 45.

The panoramic view of the city from the bridge reveals the structure’s great size. It is already possible to stand in the middle of the bridge and look at the tower at the far north, 135 metres high, and the one at the south end, set at 137 metres. There are 76 metres separating the trays from the two towers.

The metal deck is large. In terms of weight, 8,000 tons of metal. From a distance, it looks thin, a pure optical illusion: it is three meters thick.. There is access to the inner part of the deck, where in the long term a cooling system will be installed to maintain the temperature of the structure and protect it against steam from the sea and avoid possible damage. The idea is to keep the structure dry at all times.

The metal part will be coated with asphalt to form a four-lane highway. Presently, the deck is all metal, and the removal of the hooks used to hoist the deck sections into place is underway.

The placement of the deck segment was scheduled for 45 days but has taken place in record time. Only one of the 57 sections remains to be positioned, and will be placed next Wednesday at the southern, Catembe end, according to the engineer responsible for the work.

“We were supposed to have already set the last board, but it will happen on the 25th of this month for administrative reasons, in order to carry out a symbolic closure,” civil engineer Basílio Nzunga explians.

The metal cables that support the modules weigh about two thousand tons each, and are more than one kilometre long. Steel is used throughout the 680-metre-long structure because of its robustness and strength.

The Maputo Sul Company says that nothing will compromise the completion of the in the initial phase of the project by December, but there are still doubts regarding access to the bridge from Maputo and also south, Catembe side.

The Maputo-Catembe bridge will have a total length of approximately three kilometres, with 1.1 kilometre access viaducts to the north and 1.2 kilometres to the south. The main deck is 680 metres long and is 60 metres above sea level at the centre.

Technically speaking, the trays were assembled in different phases, with the main structure mounted in the central part. This structure has a total weight of 127 tons and is 12 metres long. The end trays are the heaviest, at 137 tonnes each, while the remainder weigh 125 tonnes each.

Source: O País