Newbridge Safe Routes to School - Pont Calzaghe

 
 
The Newbridge Safe Routes to School scheme provides a link between the town centre, railway station, leisure centre, comprehensive school and rugby club.

The scheme comprises two cycle/footpath structures:

Structure B1 (Contractor Design)
Cycle/footbridge spanning the River Ebbw, it provides a link between Newbridge railway station and newbridge comprehensive school/leisure centre/rugby club.

The deck comprises of a single span cable stayed steel superstructure supported by a single raking mast, centrally positioned within the walkway and extending above the deck, the mast is fully fixed at the base, two sets of two cables connect the deck to the mast on the western side; two backstay cables are anchored to reinforced anchor blocks to the east of the mast.  The deck is simply supported on a reinforced concrete bank seat abutment at the western end.  An aluminium planked decking system together with a stainless steel cable parapet were utilised to improve the aesthetic appearance of the structure.

Consideration to the Environment Agency and Ecology were major factors during the construction sequence.

Main cable stayed span - 27.5m, Eastern ramp - 29.5m, Staircase - 3.6m

Structure B2 (Contractor Design)
Cycle/footbridge spanning Ebbw Vale - Cardiff railway line. The west side of the bridge connects with the town centre, the east side of the bridge connects with structure B1 (river bridge) to the comprehensive school/leisure centre and to the railway station. The structure has a ramped access arrangement with gradients of 1 in 15 and landings at approximately10m intervals, together with a stepped route using a spiral staircase to access the bridge. An 8.0M diameter annular landing is situated at the top of the spiral staircase, supported on a reinforced concrete bank seat abutment at the western end. An aluminium planked decking system together with a stainless steel cable parapet were utilised to improve the aesthetic appearance of the structure.

Bridge span over railway – 18.60m

Liaison with Network Rail and Arriva Trains Wales was critical in the construction sequence of this structure.

Both structures have been located on 29no. 600mm diameter columns with a maximum length of 9m, including the 2.4m diameter central column. The columns are supported on 28no. 600mm diameter piled foundations with an average length of 12m.

Total reinforced concrete utilised in scheme – 800m3
Total tonnage of steel utilised in scheme – 200 tonnes 
 
Value Engineering – Structure B3 was value engineered from a single span bridge, to a culvert and gabion retaining wall which resulted in a £50k saving to the scheme.

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Consulting Engineers   Capita Symonds
Sub Contractors        Rowecord (steel fabrication/erection) Chromatica (LED lighting)

The bridge was named after Newbridge's undefeated world boxing champion Joe Calzaghe and his award-winning trainer father Enzo who were guests at the bridge's opening ceremony. 


Copyright Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd