Skip to main content

Rapid assembly modular polymer bridge launched

UK companies Arup and Mabey have installed what they say is the world’s first modular glass-fibre, reinforced polymer bridge, with Mabey becoming the first licensed distribution partner. The post-tensioned bridge is designed to be assembled in hard to reach sites where large cranes or heavy machinery cannot be used. Part-funded by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) the modular bridge is expected to be of particular interest to the rail industry, providing a safer alternative to level crossings w
March 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
UK companies 7942 Arup and Mabey have installed what they say is the world’s first modular glass-fibre, reinforced polymer bridge, with Mabey becoming the first licensed distribution partner.

The post-tensioned bridge is designed to be assembled in hard to reach sites where large cranes or heavy machinery cannot be used. Part-funded by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) the modular bridge is expected to be of particular interest to the rail industry, providing a safer alternative to level crossings where traditional pedestrian bridges cannot be installed.

The first bridge has been installed at a Site of Special Scientific Interest for Network Rail in Oxford. The bridge modules were light enough to be transported by an articulated lorry and then assembled on site and lifted from a distance.

Launching as Pedesta, the pre-engineered, modular and fully customisable in its form, material, colour and finish, the bridge features include identical modules, one metre in length, which are fixed together with bolted shear connectors and then post-tensioned.

The system allows spans of up to 30 metres, so it can adapt to suit any application. In addition, being lighter than steel, the modules only require a pallet truck or forklift to move, enabling faster, safer and more efficient project delivery. The material provides additional resistance to fire, graffiti, vandalism, and ultra-violet radiation.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bit by bit insurers agree data protocol
    November 7, 2013
    Telematics technology may be a game changer for the automobile insurance industry but it comes with some caveats as Colin Sowman discovers. James Bielak, (P&C) program manager at the US office of ACORD (the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development), has an unenviable job: to devise a standard form of communicating vehicle data between telematics providers and insurance companies. To that end he has gathered together a group composed of insurers, telematics providers and other intere
  • No in-road equipment for Queensland's free flow toll bridge
    February 1, 2012
    By May this year, the new Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, which is being built alongside an existing bridge, will be open. With it will come an end-to-end free-flow tolling system. Interview with Sue Caelers, Queensland Motorway Ltd. Queensland Motorways Ltd owns and operates 61km of roadway in the area around Brisbane, Australia. This includes the Gateway Bridge and the Gateway Extension, Logan and Port of Brisbane motorways.
  • Machine vision standards definition moves forward with establishment of new forum
    December 3, 2012
    The new Future Standards Forum will homogenise standards develop in the machine vision and partnering sectors. Here, machine vision industry experts discuss developments. By Jason Barnes At the Vision Show, which took place in Stuttgart at the beginning of November, the European Machine Vision Association, the US’s Automated Imaging Association and the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA) established a joint initiative, the Future Standards Forum (FSF). This, said the EMVA’s President Toni Ventura, a
  • Telematics standards need to evolve to keep up with technology
    July 30, 2012
    Scott Andrews and Scott McCormick take a look at how standards development for the telematics environment needs itself to evolve in order to stay abreast of technological advances. While the road has been somewhat arduous, telematics has evolved from a research activity to a resource for fleet operators, consumers and road management authorities.