ID 3

33

9

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – Hong Kong

Work is now up and running on the largest design and build project

ever awarded by the Hong Kong government

Scope of works performed

• The project is a fully integrated JV

with VSL working on sections of the

project including technical and method

issues, financial arrangements,

production (segment precasting,

piling, pier construction and

superstructure works).

The JV’s project scope is to design,

build and hand over to the client the

9.3km of the Hong Kong Macau Link

Road section between the HKSAR

boundary and Scenic Hill.

▲ The bridge will be an important link to the Pearl River Delta.

HKLR has two navigation channels,

one in the western water area and

the other in the airport channel.

An unusual feature of the bridge is

the inclusion of overpass in the

western water area to enable

service vehicles to turn around.

There are stringent requirements

in the contract for quality and

environmental matters including

limitations in the amount of

concurrent marine work allowed.

Piling work has to stop during the

calving season of the Chinese

white dolphins in May and June

every year, and whenever a

dolphin is seen.

The contract started in May 2012 with

a 53-month construction programme

running until October 2016.

The western end of the 9.3km HKLR

structure connects to the Chinese

portion of the HZMB in the Pearl River

Delta at the boundary between

Mainland China and the Hong Kong

Special Administrative Region

(HKSAR). In the east, it ends at the

abutment of the Scenic Hill Tunnel at

Chek Lap Kok Island, the site of Hong

Kong’s airport. More than 7.5km of the

bridge is over the sea and the final

1.7km runs above the seawall along

Chek Lap Kok South Road.

The HKLR is a dual three-lane

expressway carried on a twin-box

prestressed concrete viaduct. Over

the sea, it consists mostly of 75m-long

spans, with longer spans of up to

180m over the airport channel and

where it crosses a protected

archaeological site. The land section

has irregular span lengths of between

34m and 65m to minimise conflicts

with existing underground utilities.

VSL, together with Dragages Hong

Kong and China Harbour

Engineering, has been awarded the

contract to design and build a

9.3km section of bridge for the

Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR).

The link road forms a key part of

the 29.6km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-

Macao Bridge (HZMB), which will

create a strategic traffic network

connecting Hong Kong, Macao and

Zhuhai in China.

The joint venture’s contract is the

largest single design and build civil

works contract ever awarded in

Hong Kong.

▲ Bird’s eye view rendering of the bridge

www.vsl.com

Edited

2012

ID 3

33

9

Constraints in the vicinity of Hong

Kong International Airport mean

that stringent height restrictions

need to be observed. This affects

the selection of construction

methods and equipment including

the marine barges, cranes and

deck erection equipment.

The bridge foundations take the

form of bored piles. The typical

columns will be precast and the

superstructure will adopt the

precast segmental construction

method using overhead balanced

cantilever erection girders and

lifting frames.

1- segment lifting systems

For all segments, through-holes

with conically shaped upper parts

will be provided in the top slab to

allow the installation of segment-

lifting attachments. The

attachments consist of special

machined lifting bars and cones.

These are not stressed, but are

‘jammed’ into the conical part of

the lifting hole to ensure transfer

of the shear forces.

2- pier-top hanger beams

The pier-top hanger beams are

temporary steel supporting beams

used for the suspension of the

+1 segments at each side of the

cast-in-situ pier heads of the

landside viaducts. The hanger

beam is stressed down to the pier

top, and the gantry is then used to

bring the +1 segments to the pier

and transfer them to the beam.

Once both +1 segments for both

▲ Installation of piles for a temporary

piling platform

▲ Driving permanent casings

▼ Piling work proceeds on multiple fronts.

carriageways are in position, they are

aligned and the wet joints are cast.

After the permanent tendons have

been installed and stressed, the pier-

top hanger beam can be removed by

crane for installation and reuse at the

next pier.

3- lifting frames

Different types of lifting frames will

be adopted for segment erection in

various areas of the long-span

viaducts and the turn-around area,

where erection by launching gantry

is not possible.

The frames are being designed to lift

one segment at a time from a delivery

barge, and raise it to the required

erection position. There are two

general forms - a cantilever frame and

a full-span frame.

The cantilever frame is designed for

installation on top of the deck and will

move forward along the deck as each

segment in turn is lifted and stressed

in place. For each balanced cantilever

there are two such lifting frames, at

opposing cantilever tips.

OWNER

Highways Department, HKSAR

Government

ENGINEER

Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.

MAIN CONTRACTOR

Dragages - China Harbour -

VSL Joint Venture

MAIN CONTRACTOR’S DESIGNER

Mott MacDonald, YWL Engineering,

Bureau d’Etudes Travaux Publics

Bouygues

VSL ENTITY

VSL Hong Kong

DATE

2012 - 2016

4- segment loading

Loading the segments ready for

installation on the landside viaducts

will be carried out using a steel

gantry system specifically designed

to transfer the precast concrete

bridge elements from a delivery

barge up to the bridge deck. An

existing gantry truss is to be used,

supported on top of a set of towers.

A winch mounted in a trolley runs

along the top of the truss, and is

used to lift segments from the

barge and transfer them to a

delivery trailer on the viaduct.

The project also features input from

other parts of the VSL group.

VSL-Intrafor has contributed to the

joint venture’s tender team by

carrying out thorough studies for

the foundation and superstructure

works, whilst FT Laboratories

proposed a comprehensive

structural health monitoring (SHM)

system.

VSL will continue to contribute to

the fully integrated JV team in its

role as a main contractor on the

project.