Arkil has been contracted by the Danish Road Directorate to build a 335 m double valley bridge as part of the expansion project of the motorway around the city of Silkeborg. The bridge is located in a wetland area, and its entire construction is being carried out with care and respect for the nationally protected local environment.
Project period
2013-2016
Client
The Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet)
Contract sum
97.6 mill. Danish kroner
Arkil has been contracted to construct a stretch of the Aarhus-Herning Motorway, a valley bridge and embankments in a natural area west of the city of Silkeborg.
The bridge will extend the Aarhus–Herning Motorway over Gubsø Lake, which is a 400 m impassable stretch of marshy land. In addition to a 335 m motorway bridge, the project also includes the construction of a 60 m motorway embankment, bridge ends and land connections, as well as the replacement of soft soil and clean-up of the area.
The construction of the bridge is complicated by the Gubsø marshland, the bottom of which consists of organic silt whose pudding-like consistency reaches depths of 26 m in some places. The consistency of the silt meant that Arkil had to find an alternative means of excavating in order to cast three of the 13 foundation pieces on which the bridge will rest. Arkil Environmental Engineering has developed a special stabilisation technique which has been used in Kolding Harbour and elsewhere, and which is also being successfully implemented in the Gubsø project. The cement stabilisation technique consists of adding cement to the silt until it acquires the consistency of ordinary soil.
The areas around Gubsø Lake have been drained since 1882 and are protected by the Danish Nature Protection Act Section 3. This means that the work must be planned and executed with the least possible impact on the existing environment. The valley bridge and motorway embankment are being constructed at a height that will allow the water level of Gubsø Lake to rise.
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