Thursday 1 April 2021

Roughan & O'Donovan (ROD) and Hardesty & Hanover (H&H) are collaborating to provide comprehensive movable bridge engineering design services for the first opening road bridge over the River Clyde in Renfrewshire, Scotland. 

The Clyde crossing is the centrepiece of the Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside (CWRR) project, which will transform the waterfront, connect communities on both sides of the river, improve access to jobs, education, hospitals and leisure pursuits, and create new connections into Scotland's manufacturing innovation district AMIDS.

The design-build project is being led by construction and civil engineering company GRAHAM, with Hollandia Infra, lemants, Ramboll, Amey, Hycom Engineering, and Fairfield Control Systems among the other members of the project team.

184m double cable-stayed swing bridge

The 184m double cable-stayed swing bridge, connecting Renfrew to Clydebank and Yoker, will carry vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. The geometry of this elegant and structurally efficient swing bridge allows for cyclist and pedestrian-friendly gradients on the bridge while also providing a significant navigational opening. The 12.3m wide bridge deck contains two carriageways and two pedestrian footpaths.

The double swing bridge is 130m pivot to pivot with an asymmetric or 'bobtail' arrangement of 65m forward span and 27m back span. The steel superstructures spans are gear-driven, hydraulically powered, and open at a 110° angle. The pivots feature 6.7m-diameter slewing bearings. The forward steel superstructure is supported by cable-stays anchored to steel pylons and a counterweighted back span.

Planning consent has already been obtained. Detailed design and construction are scheduled to start this spring and take three years to complete.

The H&H/ROD team is a highly sought after collaboration for its unmatched experience in designing competitive, highly constructible, kinetic structures.

The team utilises an integrated design approach with structural, mechanical, and electrical systems functioning as one; and bridge geometry and systems matched to optimise functionality and long-term durability and reliability.