Closing the gap on the Friesen Bridge: Moveable bridge section successfully installed

This week, the last and most important bridge section for the construction of the new Friesen Bridge was successfully floated into place and installed.

The 145 m long and 1800 t heavy moveable bridge span now connects the two already installed approach structures over the river Ems. sbp was responsible for the execution of the moveable bridge and the substructures.

The moveable bridge span of the Friesen Bridge was completely pre-assembled and balanced in Papenburg during the past few months. From there, it was loaded onto pontoons at the beginning of this week using two SPMT groups and floated across the Ems to the construction site.

To position the swing bridge exactly over the swing pier in its open position, the pontoons had to be rotated 90 degrees under load and the river Ems had to be dammed using a barrage. Next, the superstructure will be connected to the rotating unit, which has already been lifted into place, so that the swinging movements to open the waterway are possible.

The steel truss structure, which is 335 m long in total, is an important part of the so-called “Wunderlinie”, a railroad line between the city of Leer and Groningen. In future, the Friesen Bridge will be available not only to rail traffic, but also to cyclists and pedestrians. The final completion and commissioning of the bridge is planned for spring 2025.