Maputo Bridge and Link Roads Project
Maputo, Mozambique
Award of Merit
Owner Empresa de Desenvolvimento de Maputo Sul E.P.
Design Firm CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co. Ltd.
General Contractor China Road and Bridge Corp.
Consultant Gauff GmbH & Co. Engineering KG
An international team with members from more than 10 countries worked to build the longest bridge of its kind in Africa. The project includes a single-span double-hinged earth-anchored suspension bridge with a main span of 680 meters and a total length of 3 kilometers. The total 187-km bridge and road project reduces travel time between the Mozambique capital of Maputo and the South Africa border to just 90 minutes from six hours.
Crews utilized high performance concrete with high water absorption and built underground diaphragm walls for the anchorage foundations in the ocean-adjacent area in weak soils. A steel rebar installation platform was invented in order to increase efficiency. China Road and Bridge Co. fabricated steel box girders in China and shipped them to the site, where crews hoisted them into place with a rotating cableway crane.
Crews faced various constraints due to the location of the project, including a high water table. The main span of the bridge had to have a vertical clearance of 60 m and accommodate 680 m in channel navigation. At the same time, the pylons had to be no higher than 142 m, due to proximity to the airport.
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