wiredinUSA September 2013

INDEX

Wire rope gives bridge a lift

The Jacques Chaban-Delmas Bridge, a new vertical lift bridge crossing the Garonne River, is the largest lift bridge in Europe. A central span of 117m, weighing 2,600 tons, rises to a height of 53m to allow passenger liners and ships to pass underneath.

Operation of the lift span is achieved via high strength wire ropes passing over sheaves that connect the lift span to the counterweights. A wire rope winch drive operating system with electric motor and flux vector regenerative drives haul in and

The lift span has a symmetric cross section and carries four traffic lanes - two monorail tracks and two outboard sidewalk/bikeways. Four independent pylon towers – one at each corner of the lift span – will allow a counterweight (a quarter of the total lift span weight) to travel vertically inside each pylon.

pay out the counterweights, thereby raising and lowering the lift span. WireCo WorldGroup’s wire rope facility in Kirkel-Limbach, Germany, produced over 4,600m (nearly three miles) of CASAR Turboplast ropes to complete the project, which will handle 43,000 vehicles a day and reduce traffic congestion in the Bordeaux region.

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