Video: Emergency Bridge Repairs in Madrid, Spain

From August to September, Sarens helped with emergency bridge repairs on the M30 highway in Madrid. The Avenida del Mediterráneo bridge was constructed in 1955 as the first bridge on Madrid’s M30 ring road. The bridge had been partially repaired seven years ago, but damage to the bearing supports on both central spans had become even worse over time. For a definitive repair, it was necessary to lift the bridge spans, free the old bearing supports, and completely renovate the bridge edges and final bearings.

Sarens was challenged with a tight 44-day deadline to complete the tasks. It supplied the steel and hydraulic equipment to lift and lower two central concrete spans, each weighing 450 tonnes. Equipment used included a steel gantry with 4xSJs and two lifting beams that were each 21 meters long.

Sarens prepared all the resources in 20 working days, and the equipment was taken to the site via truck from Sarens headquarters, which was a three-day trip each way. Sarens operators worked double shifts day and night in order to set up the equipment.

All bridge work had to be performed at night on the weekend to reduce traffic interruptions. One of the biggest challenges was performing the complete lift operation in a single night shift of just nine working hours.

During the operation, Sarens discovered that the bridge spans were connected to the bridge at one of the edges, instead of with isostatic support. That meant that on one side, the bridge was not lifting with +46% of the expected weight. Sarens’ client had to use hydro-demolition to release as much of the hidden connection as possible, and Sarens controlled the connections being released by applying small load steps on each SJ.

Sarens was involved in the project from the initial technical stage to the execution, performing the lift on behalf of client TECYRSA. The owner of the project is Madrid Calle M30, with structural engineering and technical assistance provided by LRA.

“An emergency bridge repair, in itself, requires harder and faster work than normal bridge repairs,” says José María Martínez Gutiérrez, technical proposal manager, technical solution sales for Sarens. “This is the first repair of its kind in Madrid, which is full of bridges, and most probably in Spain.”