e-mosty December 2017 MSS and Formwork Travellers | Page 53

ORDSALL CHORD
COMPLETED AND OPENED TO TRAFFIC
Thanos Bistolas, Brian Duguid
AECOM Mott MacDonald JV
Figure 1: River Irwell Crossing
© Matthew Nichol Photography
Ordsall Chord, UK River Irwell Crossing
On 9 th November, the Ordsall Chord project
celebrated construction completion. The River Irwell Crossing is the first network arch
bridge to be built in the UK, and the first asymmetric
(tapering) network arch in the world. The 90m span,
15m wide bridge incorporates 1156 tonnes of steel.
The first passenger trains crossed the Ordsall Chord
Viaduct on 10 th December.
The viaduct carries a new railway line across the River
Irwell between Manchester and Salford, connecting
Manchester’s main railway stations for the first time,
reducing rail congestion, and bringing economic
benefits throughout the north west of England.
The composite steel-concrete ladder-beam bridge
deck is suspended from weathering steel box girder
arches by two networks of solid steel hangers.
There are 46 hangers in each network, with load-
monitoring pins installed at the lower end of each
hanger.
4/2017