Arkil has been contracted to complete a stretch of the Aarhus-Herning Motorway, which includes the construction of a valley bridge and embankments in a natural area west of the city of Silkeborg. The bridge will extend the motorway over a 400 m stretch of impassable marshy land known as Gubsø Lake.
Project period
2013-2016
Client
The Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet)
Contract sum
97,6 mill. Danish kroner
In addition to a 335 m motorway bridge, the project 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 bridge will extend the Aarhus–Herning Motorway over Gubsø Lake, which is a 400 m impassable stretch of marshy land.
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.
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 Enviromental technology has developed a special stabilisation technique that has been used in the Kolding Habour rinse basin and elsewhere, and which is also being successfully applied in the Gubsø project. The cement stabilisation is based on adding and mixing cement to the silt so that it gains the consistency of ordinary clay soil, which makes it possible to dig holes without the risk of subsidence or collapse.
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