Archinect - News

Webuild and Carlo Ratti propose replacement for Baltimore’s collapsed Key Bridge following tragedy

2024-05-03T15:28:00-04:00

Today, the Webuild group advanced a proposal designed in collaboration with architect and MIT professor Carlo Ratti and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux for a new bridge in Baltimore that would replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The design, which was released ahead of next week’s preliminary reconstruction forum called by the Maryland Transportation Authority, calls for a cable suspension span totaling 2,300 feet with a 213-foot clearance and offering wider lanes and increased vessel navigation safety, structural maintenance monitoring technology, smart traffic management, and enhanced connection to the Harbor area.

Webuild had already famously contributed to the rapid reconstruction of Renzo Piano’s Morandi bridge replacement in Genoa, Italy, after the deadly 2018 collapse that killed 43 people. The company is also expecting to begin constructing what will become the world's longest suspension bridge over the Strait of Messina by the end of the year.

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World's longest suspension bridge is moving forward in Italy after decades of pushback and delays

2024-02-25T08:00:00-05:00

Construction of what would be the world's longest suspension bridge, connecting Sicily and mainland Italy over the Strait of Messina, could begin this year after the final design recently gained approval. The long-delayed project would stretch more than 10,800 feet if completed.

The controversial bridge is estimated to cost approximately $5 billion and take around seven years to build. It will feature three vehicle lanes and a central lane for rail. The structure is also designed to withstand 180-mile-per-hour winds and up to 7.1-magnitude earthquakes.

The concept has been in the works since the 1960s, and it wasn’t until 2003 that a preliminary design for it was approved. Since then, the project has experienced a cycle of being shelved and revived by various Italian governments in power. Critics of the endeavor have asserted that the bridge has been nothing more than a tool to win votes that would waste billions of dollars.

State-owned sponsor Stretto di Messina SpA (SdM) has long...

Skanska to lead $150 million Williamsburg Bridge overhaul

2022-10-17T11:53:00-04:00

The New York City Department of Transportation has selected Swedish construction concern Skanska to lead a $150 million rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Williamsburg Bridge, the city and firm announced last week.

According to Skanska, the project will include “structural steel repairs throughout the bridge superstructure, inclusive of floor beam repairs, a transit hanger retrofit and temporary jacking system, gusset plate repairs, truss bottom chord repairs, top and bottom lateral bracing strengthening, overhead truss diagonal replacements, intermediate towers repairs and transit stringer repairs.”

The 119-year-old span has been rehabilitated several times throughout its history, including most famously a miraculous $250 million effort in 1988. Skanska's work will be funded in part by the Biden Administration’s newly-announced first round of Bridge Investment ...

The world's longest suspension bridge officially opens in Turkey

2022-03-21T15:11:00-04:00

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge over the Dardanelles Strait on Friday (18 March). It has a central span of 2,023m, which means it usurps the title of world’s longest suspension bridge from the Akashi Kaikyo crossing in Kobe, Japan.

As reported by Global Construction Review, the new bridge cost €2.5 billion ($2.76 billion) to construct and is expected to generate €5.3 billion ($5.84 billion) in economic output, creating 118,000 jobs and €2.4 billion ($2.65 billion) in revenue. Named after an Ottoman naval victory during WWI, it is the first fixed crossing over the Dardanelles Strait and the sixth one across the Turkish Straits. The bridge is the centerpiece of a planned 321-kilometer-long (200-mile-long), $2.8 billion project to connect motorways in Thrace and Anatolia.

The bridge was designed by Denmark-based Cowi and Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants of South Korea. Arup and Aas-Jakobsen worked on the project as Independent Design Verifier (IDV), with Turkey’s Tekfen and T-ingénierie of Switzerland serving as administrative consultants. The construction was carried out via a public-private partnership, formed in 2017, between a group of Turkish and South Korean companies, led by Daelim, SK, Limak, and Yapi Me...

Video of NYC's Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge facing high winds goes viral

2020-12-08T20:07:00-05:00

Earlier this month, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was closed due to weather. However, a video posted to Twitter of the bridge undergoing heavy winds went viral due to the sights and sounds recorded.

Bridges are built to pass strict safety and construction standards and be capable of withstanding various weight loads and weather conditions. Yet, in this case, the high winds that swept through the bridge created a sight that could have come out of a sci-fi film. On top of the dense fog cloaking the bridge, the video below left many viewers ready to share their thoughts.

"Suspension bridges — particularly the longest span in North America — are engineered to be flexible, and any movements on the bridge were within its safety standards," shares MTA Spokesperson Aaron Donovan. "The MTA's weather event safety protocols were activated early and worked as designed with no structural damage, no major vehicular accidents, and no injuries resulting from Monday's high winds."

Plans for DC's Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge upgrade are revealed

2017-08-17T14:18:00-04:00

The Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge sits across the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Named after the prominent American abolitionist, the bridge was built in 1950 and today, makes crossing the river possible for 77,000 daily commuters.

Over the decades, the bridge has deteriorated faster than maintenance can keep up with, as is quite common among America's aging infrastructure. Despite a $27 million renovation in 2007, large corrosion holes in the structural beams necessitated its complete replacement and in 2012, city officials announced plans to replace and realign the bridge.

After initial bridge designs were rejected by the National Capitol Planning Commission and the United States Commission of Fine Arts for being "uninspired," DDOT has now revealed a much bolder look for the suspension bridge.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Thursday unveiled the design of the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. (DDOT)

Consisting of three sets of parallel white arches, the 1,600 foot lo...

With a span of 494 meters, the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge is officially world's longest

2017-08-01T17:51:00-04:00

Constructed by Swissrope/Lauber Seilbahnen AG, Frutigen, this suspension bridge in Switzerland is now the globe's longest (and arguably, most scenic, as it hovers above one of the deepest valleys in the country). The two-foot-wide bridge, which helps connect two mountain towns, has cut the time it takes to traverse the valley down from 3 to 4 hours to 10 minutes. The downside is the incredible elevation: the tourism board, which issued a press release announcing the bridge's opening, warned tourists with a fear of heights to keep taking the long way.

This proposed luxury hotel by Fender Katsalidis Architects incorporates a suspension bridge

2017-07-06T20:44:00-04:00

It will be built from the top down on a suspension bridge, modelled after and painted the colour of the Golden Gate bridge. At its base will be a new 1,075-seat theatre, and below that an excavation site that’s 4.5 times as large as the museum’s excavation. It is expected to cost over $300m.

In a noteworthy meeting of infrastructure and luxury real estate development, Tasmanian organizer of Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) David Walsh believes the people who enjoy the museum will definitely dig an onsite luxury hotel that uses a suspension bridge to support its seven upper storeys. The design has been proposed by Australia's Fender Katsalidis Architects.

A proposed three-story library. Image: Mona

In this article he notes that "you can’t usually build a theatre inside a building because when it shakes, the whole building shakes. But because this is a bridge, the top seven floors are suspended from above, and the bottom three floors are built from below. They’re not connected to each other – there’s no [noise] transmission. It’s the best idea anyone ever had. And it wasn’t mine!”

A proposed installation. Image: Mona