Tower cranes for bridge renovation

Seville-based tower crane rental specialist Sancho Toro Sur provided the two Liebherr 420 EC-H 16 Litronic tower cranes. The company has a fleet of 280 Liebherr tower cranes and a branch on Tenerife. Photo: Liebherr

A pair of tower cranes was chosen for the lifting work on a project to renovate and upgrade a road bridge in Spain.

A lifting height of 110 metres was one of the requirements. Challenges included the design and implementation of securely mounting the cranes to the bridge pylons.

Two Liebherr 420 EC-H 16 Litronic conventional saddle jib models were chosen for the job. It is the Puente Quinto Centenario road bridge in Seville, the fourth largest city in Spain. The three lane bridge spans the Gualdalquivir River and another lane is being added as part of the refurbishment project. It will mean two lanes of traffic in each direction to help ease congestion.

Puente Quinto Centenario is a cable stayed bridge that opened in 1991. It has 80 stays suspended from pylons on each bank of the river.

How it was done

Each crane was attached to the bridge pylons using two ties, the lower of which had to be guided between the bridge’s supporting cables to reach the pylon. Photo: Liebherr

The tower cranes on opposite banks of the river are each tied to the pylons using two struts. These struts are welded up from 500 mm box section steel. They have to reach through the stay cables to the bridge pylons and must not have contact with the cable stays which was a challenge to implement.

In designing and implementing the scheme crane owner Sancho Toro Sur was supported by the Liebherr Tower Crane Solutions (TCS) project department. The tower cranes were installed and erected to their final height using a mobile crane, without needing any subsequent climbing or jumping to raise the height.

Installing the ties was done first, followed by the slewing sections of the cranes. Safety was especially important as the bridge remained open during crane assembly.

Loads lifted by the cranes, to a height of 110 metres, include pylon reinforcements weighing 7.5 tonnes. Ten of these parts are needed to add the extra lane to the bridge. The refurbishment part of the job includes replacing all 80 of the cables on the bridge that is only just over 30 years old.

Commenting on the project Israel Requena, Sancho Toro Sur managing director, said, “The work is a challenge for us and we’re happy to be involved in this important project. The two Liebherr 420 EC-H 16 Litronic cranes are ideal for this job with their maximum hook height of 87.10 metres, 16 tonne lifting capacity and radius of up to 75 metres. Their efficiency, agility and reliability make them the perfect choice for renovating the Puente Quinto Centenario.”