Optimized “Astra-Bridge” ready for use on Solothurn A1
Published: Wednesday, Feb 21st 2024, 16:30
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The "Astra Bridge" developed for bypassing freeway construction sites has been optimized. From April, the construction site bridge will be used on the A1 in the canton of Solothurn, as announced by the Federal Roads Office (Astra).
Astra presented the renewed bridge to the media in Rothrist AG on Wednesday. The two-lane structure, which has been extended by ten meters with additional ramps on both sides, will be used from 7 April to mid-August for renovation work between Recherswil SO and Luterbach SO on the A1 freeway in the direction of Zurich.
As Astra had already announced earlier, the gradient was reduced, making it easier to drive on, especially for trucks. Driving tests with various vehicles such as caravans, trailers or touring cars had shown that the road could be crossed at 60 km/h without any problems. The same applies to sports cars with only ten centimetres of ground clearance.
Faster than 60 in an emergency
Even higher speeds are possible for police and ambulance vehicles, as Boris Boss from the Solothurn cantonal police said.
While traffic is moving on the 257-metre stretch above, the road surface below is being repaired over a length of one hundred meters. This will significantly reduce night work, said Richard Kocherhans, head of the Astra branch in Zofingen. Other advantages are that the construction workers are less exposed to traffic and the bridge is protected from the sun and rain.
Together with the improvements, the bridge, which will be used as a pilot project for the first time in 2022, cost around 26 million euros. Once the renovation work under the bridge has been completed, the bridge, which consists of various modules, will be hydraulically raised by ten centimetres and moved 100 meters further to the next construction section by remote control via GPS, according to the statement. This process takes 90 minutes.
In contrast to the initial deployment in spring 2022, it has been possible to significantly reduce the bumps that occurred during the ascent and descent, according to Astra. A better flow of traffic is therefore expected.
As the A1 between Recherswil SO and Luterbach SO is one of the busiest Swiss highways with up to 82,000 vehicles a day, traffic jams are still to be expected, it was said. Accompanying measures, such as displaying the travel time and metering the exit in Kirchberg and Kriegstetten, are intended to curb traffic.
www.astra.admin.ch/astrabridge
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