Electrical Contracting News (ECN) November 2016 | Page 24

PROJECT
FOCUS

A LANDMARK CROSSING
The landmark Queensferry Crossing in Scotland promises to be one of the most efficient, high
performance bridges ever built. Russell Drury takes a look at this impressive feet of engineering, as
well as its cable management systems by Metsec.

D

ue to open in May
2017, the Queensferry
Crossing forms the
centrepiece of a
major upgrade to the
cross-Forth transport
corridor in the east of
Scotland. It will be the
longest three tower, cable-stayed bridge
in the world and represents a Scottish
Government capital investment of more
than £1.3bn.

A major logistical challenge
The 250-tonne steel bridge sections arrive
in Rosyth docks from China, where they
are then prefabricated to incorporate all of
the services and road surfaces. The cable
management systems supplied by Metsec

are prefabricated into 424 modules by SES
and then installed into each of the 110
finished 750-tonne road section decks before
they are taken out by barge onto the River
Forth and then lifted by crane to connect to
the span between the bridge towers.
All of the cable management products
used had to be pre-approved by the
construction contractors, the Forth
Crossing Bridge Constructors Consortium
(FCBC) which consists of Hochtief Solutions
AG, American Bridge International,
Dragados SA and Morrison Construction.
Due to the extreme temperatures, thermal
extension couplers for cable management
were designed into the project with the
support of the Metsec team to help
compensate for the movement of the
bridge due to temperature fluctuations,
wind and traffic.

Early stages of
construction as the
first deck is erected.

24 | November 2016

24-25 Project Focus.indd 24

11/10/2016 13:00