New Retheklappbrücke bridge

The new construction commissioned to the “Rethebrücke consortium” with the participation of Depenbrock is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the Port of Hamburg. With a span of approx. 104 m, the new movable bridges were built as two-part bascule bridges in steel construction.

The drive and control technology is housed in the massive damper pillars, which reach down to -13.0 m above sea level. In order to transfer the high loads in the construction and final state, the reinforced concrete flap piers are founded deep down to NN -41.0 m using grouted piles. As the distance between the excavation pit wall and the existing structure was no more than 3.0 m in some areas, gentle installation methods were used for the construction of the excavation pit sheet pile wall. Vibrations caused by impact pile driving were excluded and the use of vibratory pile driving was only permitted for secondary components. Installation was carried out by inserting the mixed pipe sheet piling into a pre-drilled pipe. While the drill pipe was being pulled, the gap was stabilized with a special hydraulic binding agent (liquid soil).

The use of a jack-up platform was essential for production in the water. This was the only way to absorb the torque generated during the drilling and pulling process. The walls of the jack-up platform had to be specially reinforced for this application. Production was accompanied by extensive measurements.

The separate superstructures of the foreland bridges were built as a steel structure (railroad) or as a VFT bridge (road). The landside bridge abutment connects to an existing flood protection wall. In this respect, flood protection had to be maintained for the entire construction period during the construction of the construction pit wall and the abutment.