|
 |
Nationwide Access is supporting one of the largest civil engineering projects currently taking place in the South East, the scheme to link the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent via a 1.25km high-level crossing over the Swale Estuary. The project is being undertaken by Carillion for the Highways Agency.
The £100 million A249 Iwade Bypass to Queenborough Improvement Scheme includes a new high-level road bridge over The Swale and the construction of road links on either side to improve transport links. At present, the only road access to the Isle of Sheppey is via the existing A249 Trunk Road, which is carried by the Kingsferry Bridge, a lifting bridge over the Swale Estuary which causes long delays to traffic when it is raised to allow shipping through.
The new crossing, which is due to open in summer 2006, is high enough to allow ships to pass underneath and not disrupt traffic. The project road will measure 17km with 5.6km of new build. It will reduce congestion and journey times for both leisure and business commuters in the area.
Nationwide Access, the UK's leading provider of powered access equipment, has sent a fleet of 19 machines to the site (see panel). Equipment selected for the job includes a variety of diesel-powered rough terrain boom lifts with working heights of up to 40 metres and outreaches stretching to 24.4 metres. Two heavy duty truck mounts are also in use on the project.
Powered access machines were used due to their versatility. The machines' massive outreach and working heights have enabled a bridge structure that spans across the water of the Swale allowing access to each side of the bridge from a pontoon in the estuary. Workers have been lifted up to heights of 35 metres to assembly steelwork and to carryout remedial painting work. In addition, the levels of versatility from each machine means they can be used for many different jobs, which speeds work up on the project overall as there is no need to change machines for every job.
David Roebuck, business director at Nationwide Access, said: "This is a massive project and its location across an estuary obviously brings with it a variety of challenges in terms of access. It is essential that the right machines are chosen for the different jobs and that we ensure the machines used are not too heavy for the ground conditions at the side of the river.
"We also have to consider the working area of the cage. The T55B for instance has an optional extendable cage which enables the operator to have a larger working area, which in turn prevents the machine from having to be moved and repositioned so often. The T34B is a lightweight machine with a high carrying capacity, which means that the workman is able to take more tools and materials to the working area, saving time going up and down for more material. each piece of kit.
"There are also the challenges presented by the weather such as gusts of wind, which could unsteady the wrong machines. All the machines used were ones that can withstand gusts
of wind up to 12.5m per second. All our machines are CE marked and state what wind tolerances they have."
Different sized boom lifts have been used at each stage of the construction process and the machine fleet is expected to remain in use for the rest of 2005. Nationwide Access' contribution to the scheme has been particularly important because it has negated the need for scaffolding. In the past scaffolding would have been used but on this project it could have caused would cause too much obstruction for the ships. There are safety considerations too. If workers were to use scaffolding they would then might need to suspend cradles under the bridge, which increases the risk of accidents due to the danger of wind gusts. such as cradles breaking away. Using scaffolding also means lifts might have to be installed to get people to the correct working heights.
Powered access machines on the other hand allow contractors to continue working quickly and with less obstruction. There's no need to wait for the scaffolding to be taken away or moved as these machines can be instantly manoeuvred to the next section to complete the next job. This keeps the project on track and everyone involved happy.
END
Nat0.170
For further information please contact
your local Nationwide Access Depot on:
0845 745 0000
or e-mail sales@nationwideaccess.co.uk.
|
|
