Mobile Bridge Keeps Traffic Flowing While Switzerland’s Busiest Highway Is Repaired, Anand Mahindra Shares Video

Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office (Astra) and its engineers have devised something called the Astra Bridge as they undertake repair work in the Swiss region of Recherswil-Luterbach on a highway to Zurich. The work is being done on the A1 highway, which is Switzerland’s busiest highway.

The video of the mobile bridge shared by Federal Roads Office FEDRO (Switzerland) went viral on X after many highly followed accounts reposted the video. Indian industrialist Anand Mahindra also posted the video.

“A mobile overpass bridge. Allows work to continue without traffic being disrupted. Like everything innovative, it looks so obvious after it’s introduced. Can we make this ‘standard operating procedure’ please?" Mahindra said.

Astra said the A1 route is prone to traffic jams and slowdowns and at least 73,000 vehicles run along the section per day with 82,000 on peak days.

But the agency pointed out that using the Astra bridge, which they termed as a ‘mobile construction site’, ‘nothing has changed’ in terms of traffic flow.

The Astra Bridge allows for construction work on the road without significant disruption to traffic flow. Unlike traditional construction sites that divert traffic into the opposite lane leading to major slowdowns, the Astra Bridge helps maintain consistent traffic flow.

According to a report by Construction Briefing, 1.3km of roadway has been resurfaced and work can be carried out even if there is light rain. Their report said that the bridge moves 100m further forwards every night.

The bridge is made up of 257m of steel decking and the concept was first introduced in 2022 though the pilot was not as successful as they had thought it would be. However, after more changes were introduced the project became viable.

“The optimisations were successfully tested with a variety of vehicles, including sports cars, caravan trailers, coaches and trucks. All vehicles were able to drive over the Astra Bridge at 60km/h (37mph) without restrictions," Astra said, according to Construction Briefing.

Astra also said that traffic flow was constant and stable as per data collected between April 7 and April 24. “The important data provided by traffic monitoring show that between the commissioning of the mobile construction bridge on 7 April 2024 and the reference day of 24 April 2024, constant traffic flows and stable traffic situations were recorded, apart from a few individual events due to the combination of snowfall, high traffic and accidents," Astra said in its report.

The bridge was developed in partnership with industrial transporter company Cometto. After the pilot failed, the Swiss Federal Materials Testing and Research Laboratory along with road federations suggested some changes.

They lengthened the ramps and reduced their slope from 6.1% to 1.25%, making it easier for vehicles to access and exit the bridge.

The Astra Bridge can support various vehicles, including semi-trailers, coaches, caravans and sports cars and is used during surfacing works, road joint replacements or when bridges are rehabilitated.

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