Demolition and reconstruction of the ‘Vapore’ bridge

This video shows the highlights of the demolition and construction, step by step, of the “Vapore” Bridge using NPS® BASIC prefabricated lattice beams. This work took only 11 months and it was an RFI (Italian railways) project on the Rome-Naples line, located in Maddaloni, in the province of Cosenza.

For the new railway overpass, the whole bridge was built with a span between abutments of 20.7m without supports. The overall cross-section, orthogonal to the road axis, equals 13.00m on abutment A increasing to 13.30 on abutment B. The single carriageway has two lanes, one in each direction, of a minimum width of 3.5m, and two 1.5m-wide pavements on either side.

The structure is made of prefabricated NPS® BASIC lattice beams, placed side by side and connected by a slab, forming the deck surface.

The same beams are joined to the Φ1000 mm pile bulkheads, placed to the rear of the existing abutments so as not to interfere with their foundations.

The prefabricated beams are 50×75 cm in size and have an overall span of 20.7 m. They were delivered to the worksite divided into three segments for their length of more than 10.30m. The prefabricated beams were quickly assembled on site, allowing for regular rail transit. The only interruptions on the line concerned the two nights necessary for the launching.

Unlike the original bridge, the new structure is straight to facilitate the transit of heavy vehicles.

For their professional cooperation, our thanks go to the technicians of RFI S.O. Ingegneria Napoli, Net Engineering, Ferone Pietro & C. S.r.l., and in particular: arch. Massimiliano Buono, geom. Tommaso Russo, eng. Marco Cerullo, eng. Rosario Saccone, eng. Roberto Onotri, geom. Giacomo Arena, eng. Cristiano Soave, eng. Roberto Zanon.