The infrastructure project for the new highway “A11 – Via Brugge” includes several integral or semi integral pre-stressed concrete bridges that are designed by schlaich bergermann partner for the Belgian construction company Jan De Nul Group.
The viaducts cross several roads and railway tracks. A remarkable feature is the nearly 800 m long viaduct “K032” (“Kunstwerken 032”), integrally designed over a length of 650 m which means that the concrete superstructure is monolithically connected with the slender walls from high strength concrete. The bridge is one of the longest integral bridges worldwide.
This innovative design has a lot of advantages, both from an aesthetical point of view and from a practical point of view as maintenance can be drastically reduced to a minimum. It consists in making a fully rigid connection between the columns and the deck of the bridge, without any bearings. This allows the use of very slender columns, which results in a very light filigree concrete structure, totally adapted to its context.
