The construction of the Cross Bay Link bridge in Hong Kong

Abstract

The Cross Bay link (CBL) bridge is a 1 km sea crossing that forms the centrepiece of the new east–west express highway link in Hong Kong. This £250 million project features an iconic 200 m span butterfly double-arch bridge and a series of concrete box girder spans supported on specially sculpted V-piers and large piled foundations. This paper describes the innovative construction methods adopted for building the bridge safely and efficiently in an extremely challenging marine environment, a process that relied on the extensive use of design for manufacture and assembly solutions, with most of the bridge elements above the sea level being prefabricated or precast off site. This includes the construction of the 10 000 t steel arch bridge, which was fully prefabricated near Shanghai, then transported to Hong Kong by a semi-submersible barge, and eventually erected onto the piers using the float-over method. In addition, most of the concrete decks, piers and the pile cap shells were precast off site and then lifted into position on site. This project holds a number of engineering records in Hong Kong, including the longest arch bridge, the first-time adoption of S690QL high-strength steel for major bridge elements and the largest scale implementation of the float-over erection method.