The road maintenance authority in Switzerland has created an innovative mobile bridge that makes it possible to pave public highways without having to halt traffic on the affected lanes.
When it comes to road maintenance, traffic jams are an inevitable nuisance that drivers must bear. This is true even in the face of experts' best efforts to find a logistical solution.
But the Federal Roads Office in Switzerland might have devised an innovative enough way to transform road pavement.
It unveiled the Astra Bridge earlier this year, a moveable bridge of 257 meters that spans portions of the road to allow vehicles to cross while the infrastructure beneath it is being repaired.
The idea is so straightforward that you could almost wonder why it took engineers so long to come up with it, but the Astra Bridge is unique for a reason—it's not as easy as it seems.
More than ten years ago, Jürg Merian, often known as "Mr. Astra Bridge," was inspired by a fly-over ramp he observed in Austria while managing the construction of the Astra Bridge.
The Waagner Biro firm had constructed the modular device for Asfinag, the country's national road office. It was made up of multiple pieces that could be positioned over different sections of the road to permit traffic to flow over while maintenance was being done underneath.
Merian wasn't completely satisfied with the fly-over ramp that Switzerland ultimately ordered.
The fly-over ramp has significant drawbacks despite being functional. The working conditions for those who laboured beneath it were terrible, and it was immobile, making it difficult to move the modules from one location to another.
Workers taller than 1.6 meters had to keep an eye on their heads at all times because there was very little room beneath the ramp, and the traffic noise there occasionally exceeded 100 decibels.
The Astra Bridge 1.0 was created a few years ago when Jürg Merian set out to improve upon the fly-over ramp concept. Road noise wasn't as much of an issue because the structure was mobile and the top portion had improved insulation.
In addition, it was much taller (3 meters) and wider (5 meters). Unfortunately, it had more flaws that prevented it from succeeding in the end.
Even though barely a quarter of the planned maintenance work had been finished, the general public forced the Astra Bridge's dismantling during its trial run in 2022.
Trucks and other lower vehicles slowed almost to a standstill on the steep ramp leading up to the bridge, resulting in a congestion of traffic that stretched kilometres.
