Sweden’s first plastbro – Heavy traffic – New Technology

     The old steel girder bridge over the railway in Linghem Östergötland is replaced by a plastic

Transport Administration builds Sweden’s first road bridge in plastic reinforced with glass and carbon fiber.

The old steel girder bridge over the railway in Linghem Östergötland is getting worn. Next year the car traffic therefore diverted to a new bridge, built in more modern materials.

– It will be the first road bridge built entirely of fiber composite, even those bearing parts, says Per Hansson, who is brospecialist at Trafikverket.

The composite material is a polymer reinforced with glass fiber, carbon fiber or a mixture. The construction is more expensive to manufacture than traditional bridges of steel and concrete. But construction is much faster. The approximately 23 meters long and seven meters wide bridge shipped prefabricated to eats away and lifted into place.

– The construction is fast is a big advantage because it reduces the noise of the traffic both on the bridge and on the railroad, says Per Hansson.

The material also has higher strength and requires less maintenance.

One of the challenges is that the composite bridge can not be made as slender as a traditional bridge. At the same time, it must not swell too much height: railway under the bridge requires 6.5 m clear height and the roadway may not be increased too much so that the momentum banks are steep.

Målet is that the new bridge should be in service next year. Before that Trafikverket make an Innovation Procurement – even the news to the authority. Trafikverket will produce more documentation in collaboration with three or four different contractors. Then go Authority proceed with the solution that seems best.

In the Netherlands, for example, there are composite bridges long ago, but the lack of a European sizing standard . Therefore, the Finnish Transport Agency participated in a research project that developed the technical requirements for the material to be sized. The project involves, among other things, Chalmers and consultancy WSP.

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