New access bridge for Dundee Port designed, manufactured and delivered by the Shay Murtagh team

The replacement of the Dundee Port access bridge is part of the wider aim to improve access to Dundee Port primarily for HGV traffic. Stannergate Bridge’s capacity was restricted to 33T. This restriction along with other proposed junction improvements will allow for easier access to the trunk road network.

The client was Dundee City Council contracted to Main Contractor Carillion Plc.  Shay Murtagh Precast in turn was contracted for design, manufacture and delivery of the bridge replacement.  With design responsibility for the bridge deck superstructure a value engineering exercise was carried out by the Shay Murtagh Design Team and the use of MY beams was found to be the most economical and efficient option.  On design completion a Design Check was completed by consultants Tony Gee & Partners.

The project consisted of 13 no. MY3 beams which were 9.45m long. The beams were batched together in the factory so as to minimise the number of installation lifts required on site. The parapets were batched with 2 no. beams while internally the beams were batched in trios. This resulted in 2 parapet assemblies and 3 internal assemblies. As well as minimising the extent of infill deck concrete to be poured on site, the batching operation along with the MY beam profile made it possible for service ducts to be cast into the batched concrete between the beams in the factory. The parapet batched assemblies weighed 48t while the internal batched assemblies weighed 24t.

5 no. cill beams were also manufactured as part of this contract and they varied in weight from 2t to 34t. 17 number approach units also formed part of the project and these varied in weight from 6t to 9t.The bridge was at a skew angle of 7.5° and the completed deck had a clear width between parapets of 12.6m and a clear span of 9.125m.

A trail erection was completed in house and inspected by Carillion and Network Rail.  Installation was completed over the Christmas 2011 strict rail possession and our logistics team along with the Carillion installation team worked together to bring this to a successful completion.  This was a complete project by Shay Murtagh Precast, design, manufacture and delivery of a value engineering solution.  We extend our thanks to the complete team at Carillion.