SUMMARY
1. Introduction
An 89m, twin network arch bridge was designed to
span the River Irwell in the North of England. The
bridge will carry a twin, bidirectional track
arrangement as part of the Ordsall Chord
intervention. A number of requirements and
constraints were imposed, which posed challenges to
both the design and construction teams. Effective use
of BIM technologies and processes and the adoption
of a collaborative approach by all parties involved,
including the early appointment of the Steelwork
Fabricator were catalysts to the successful completion
of the design phase of the structure. The merits of the
wider team collaboration can also be seen during the
construction phase.
The River Irwell Bridge forms part of the Ordsall
Chord, which is a new elevated railway viaduct
currently under construction in the heart of
Manchester in the North West of England. The Chord
itself is part of the wider Northern Hub and
Electrification Programme, which will improve the
capacity of the Railway network and contribute
significantly to the economic prosperity of the region.
A visualisation of the Ordsall Chord is shown in Fig. 1.
This is the first network arch railway bridge in the
United Kingdom. It is also believed that the
arrangement of asymmetric arches, open section
longitudinal ties and type of loading constitute a
world's first variation of a network arch bridge. The
structure is currently under construction and due for
completion in 2017.
The viaduct is approximately 300m long and connects
two existing masonry arch viaducts, namely the
Castlefield and Middlewood viaducts. It crosses a site
with significant historic value to both cities of
Manchester and Salford, which used to be the
epicentre of the development of railways in the UK.
Specifically, the Viaduct crosses Water Street,
Stephenson's Viaduct, which is a Grade II listed
Heritage structure, the River Irwell and Trinity Way,
which is part of the Manchester and Salford Inner
Relief Road. The River Irwell Bridge is a steel network
twin arch, which is the first of this kind of bridge in the
UK, spanning 89m across the River Irwell.
Fig. 1: Visualisation of the Ordsall Chord
4/2016