The Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that three viaduct spans for the Dubai Metro have been constructed near Interchange 5.5 on Sheikh Zayed Road between the future metro stations Jumeirah Lake Towers and Jumeirah Island. Each of these spans is being made up with a minimum of eight precast viaduct deck segments, which are manufactured and transported, from Jebel Ali casting yard.
Each segment, 10m wide and 4m in length, is being assembled with other similar sized segments individually to form a complete viaduct span bridging across two supporting piers. Different spans together when assembled will form the bridge deck upon which the trains will travel. The lengths of the spans vary from 24-72m where the minimum number of segments per span is eight and the maximum is 18, installed by launching girder number LG7, which is the first among seven other gantries to be used to construct the many viaduct spans along the Red Line.
The segments are match-casted and glued together. Post-tensioning then takes place using high strength cables threaded through the segments.
The launching gantries are equipped with their own lifting winch, power and control equipment to enable lifting and moving the heavy concrete segments accurately into position. There will be 11,400 pre-cast concrete viaduct deck segments for the Red Line, each weighing more than 50 tonnes.
The launching gantries provide a fast-track installation process, which enables the installation of a complete viaduct span of 36m length in roughly two days. Concrete segments will be transported, on demand, from Jebel Ali Casting Yard to the launching gantries sites using heavy-duty Lorries.
The concrete segment installation process is a construction method used widely around the globe. It will be performed in accordance with internationally recognised standards and in compliance with pre-planned and approved detailed work methodologies.
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