The Bluewaters pedestrian bridge connects the existing Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), with the new Bluewaters Island including the new wheel. It is a design and build project of 1 year, so the time factor is one of the main constraints. The project included some civil works that were completed on 31 July 2017. The principal difficulty was the construction of the two piers in the water. The main deck of the bridge is composed of steel elements. The erection of these steel elements was planned in 6 pieces, where the strategy was to maximize the work in the workshop and at Six Construct Ajman, due to the short time while minimizing the work on site.
This strategy led to a fast erection on site but required the organization of big lifting and special methods. The biggest segment to be lifted was 70m long and up to 250 tons. Each segment was finally lifted with a different method and different equipment due to the constraints of the project such as access, location of the project at the entrance of Dubai Marina, a shallow seabed, narrow channel, urban area and time frame. Here is an outline of the chosen methods:
- 2 segments (around 120 tons each) were lifted from the land using a tandem lift,
- The curved segment (140 tons) was lifted using a floating crane.
- 2 other segments (220 tons) were lifted and placed by using a jackup barge with a crane of 1,000 tons.
- Finally the last segment (170 tons) was placed on using strand jacks.
The last segment was placed on 26 September 2017 and one month remains until the BESIX team completes all the finishing touches by the end of October.
The accomplishment of this project is only because of the efforts made from each member of a very small team. Well done to all involved!
