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Tacitus Bridge is a steel box girder cable stayed bridge which crosses the river Waal near Ewijk, East of the Netherlands. Rijkswaterstaat wanted to widen the road and prolong the design life of the existing bridge by 30 years.
Next to the existing Tacitus Bridge, a second bridge was built, which increased the number of traffic lanes from 2x2 to 2x4. During the renovation of the existing bridge, the new bridge is used to redirect the traffic, and also makes it possible to replace the cables of the old bridge.
We carried out the full assessment of the existing bridge and designed all renovation works as well as feasibility of the cable replacement. Additionally, we created the contract documents, tendered the project and we are currently involved in the site supervision process.
The primary issue which the renovation is set to address is the local fatigue problems in the deck plate and global static capacity deficiencies. This will be solved with the application of a powerful concrete overlay to the steel deck plate, which will significantly increase the static loading to be carried by the box girder and the cables.
In total there are two pylons for each pair of cables. We have specified that the cable replacement could be carried out per bundle without temporary supports in the river. This is only possible under strict weight conditions and is unique for this type of bridge.
The bridge is part of a large scale renovation project of eight steel bridges, also known as the Managing Contractor project, carried out in a joint venture with Royal HaskoningDHV.
