Cambridge, United Kingdom - Last weekend Victor Buyck, in collaboration with the A14 Integrated Delivery Team,installed the mid deck of the non-motorised users' (NMU) bridge at Swavesey, near Cambridge,  on Highways England’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme

After installation of the pylons and back span deck during the last week of July, Victor Buyck started to weld on the mid deck elements. These were delivered in 4 separate sections to be welded on site. The timing was very tight as only 4 weeks later a weekend closure of the A14 was booked to install the mid deck. The installation was performed in collaboration with Sarens UK.

The deck, weighting 220T for a length of 80m, was ready to be installed by Saturday 16:00. It was loaded onto 2 sets of SPMT's and driven 3.4km along the A14 during a full road closure. At the bridge location a LTM1800 and a LTM1750 crane were awaiting the deck. The LTM1750 was mobilized and rigged during the same closure, as it was standing on the A14. The LTM1800 was equipped with superlift.

Our riggers fixed the mid deck to the hooks of both cranes by 19:00. The cranes lifted the element in dual lift onto the three trestles and in between the two backspan sections already in position. By 24:00 the deck was secured onto its trestles and could be released from the cranes after a long day of work. The operation was finished a day ahead of the anticipated end of the closure, a success that only could be achieved through the hard work of all involved!

Next milestones are the installation of the stay cables for this bridge and the start of the NMU bridge at Bar Hill.