SANTA MARÍA DE BENQUERENCIA PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

Toledo | 2005 – 2007

The Toledo City Council called a competition for the construction of a bridge to resolve pedestrian communication over the N-400 road that separates the industrial from the residential area of ​​the Santa María de Benquerencia neighbourhood.

ESTUDIO AIA was the winner of the contest with a proposal that, in addition to solving the problem of pedestrian connection between both areas, offered a landmark image of the entrance to the city from the east.

A cable-stayed walkway with an elliptical plan is projected around a central pylon located in the median of the N-400 road. The bridge starts from inclined abutments on a ramp with a 6% slope that also serves as a counterweight to the overall stay system.

The bridge´s deck has an internal width of 3.00 meters and is entirely solved in a steel structure with an orthotropic slab with a very low weight. The board is suspended laterally with high-strength steel bars hanging from the central pylon; this generates significant torsions that are picked up by the closed hollow section. The deck has a significant transverse flex produced by cables themselves. The abutments act as foundations for a horizontal arch.

The pylon is a composite structure with metallic outer segments and concreted internally with high-resistance self-compacting concrete, thus achieving a slender element of a height greater than 45 meters.

The cable-stay system is made of high resistance S460N steel bars that are arranged every three meters on the deck and are anchored to the main steel sheets. The cables form a ruled surface with high visual power.

The set of the curved deck, the slender inclined pylon, and the fan of cables make up an image with much structural personality and very striking, turning the pedestrian bridge into an urban design object.

The foundations of the abutments are direct since the loads they transmit to the ground are very low; however, the pylon with a heavy compression axle (supporting the full weight of the deck) is piled.

The bridge was built in a metal workshop, transported by road, and assembled on-site without interfering with road traffic on National Road underneath.

INFO

Project author ESTUDIO AIA
Technical Assistance to the Construction Mangement ESTUDIO AIA
Location Toledo
Promoter Ayuntamiento de Toledo
Construction Company UTE SOGEOSA-ESTRUCTURAS MARCOS
Project date 2005
Final date of work 2011

AWARDS

1st Award Project Competition

CONGRESSES

V CONGRESO ACHE _ Barcelona 2011

 

LINKS

STRUCTURAE (VER)

 

PUBLICATIONS

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