Memaliaj Bridge – Road Section Levan – Tepelene

Client

Ministry of Public Works, Transport & Telecommunication, Albania

Area

Memaliaj / Albania

Status

Completed

Year

2013

Description

We constructed the Memaliaj Bridge for the road section from Levan to Tepeleni. The modern Memaliaj Bridge over the Vjosa River in Southern Albania, with a total length of 12,320 m, consists of a continuous, seismically isolated, three-span deck.

For hydraulic reasons, the central span of the bridge needed to be at least 75 meters long, while the structure had to be cost-effective, easily, and quickly constructed. To achieve this, the deck was designed as a cast-in-situ prestressed concrete box girder, except for 56 meters of the 76-meter-long central span, which consists of a steel-concrete composite deck. This composite section is fixed to the concrete part using prestressed tendons and bars.

The steel structure was assembled on-site and erected in five segments, which were positioned using cranes with the free cantilever method. The use of a composite deck in the central span significantly reduced the bridge’s self-weight and greatly shortened its construction time.