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Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong
Work is now up and running on the largest design and build project
ever awarded by the Hong Kong government

Scope of works performed
The project is a fully integrated JV
with VSL working on sections of the
project including technical and method
issues, financial arrangements,
production (segment precasting,
piling, pier construction and
superstructure works).
The JVs project scope is to design,
build and hand over to the client the
9.3km of the Hong Kong Macau Link
Road section between the HKSAR
boundary and Scenic Hill.
The bridge will be an important link to the Pearl River Delta.
HKLR has two navigation channels,
one in the western water area and
the other in the airport channel.

An unusual feature of the bridge is
the inclusion of overpass in the
western water area to enable
service vehicles to turn around.

There are stringent requirements
in the contract for quality and
environmental matters including
limitations in the amount of
concurrent marine work allowed.
Piling work has to stop during the
calving season of the Chinese
white dolphins in May and June
every year, and whenever a
dolphin is seen.

The contract started in May 2012 with
a 53-month construction programme
running until October 2016.

The western end of the 9.3km HKLR
structure connects to the Chinese
portion of the HZMB in the Pearl River
Delta at the boundary between
Mainland China and the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region
(HKSAR). In the east, it ends at the
abutment of the Scenic Hill Tunnel at
Chek Lap Kok Island, the site of Hong
Kongs airport. More than 7.5km of the
bridge is over the sea and the final
1.7km runs above the seawall along
Chek Lap Kok South Road.

The HKLR is a dual three-lane
expressway carried on a twin-box
prestressed concrete viaduct. Over
the sea, it consists mostly of 75m-long
spans, with longer spans of up to
180m over the airport channel and
where it crosses a protected
archaeological site. The land section
has irregular span lengths of between
34m and 65m to minimise conflicts
with existing underground utilities.
VSL, together with Dragages Hong
Kong and China Harbour
Engineering, has been awarded the
contract to design and build a
9.3km section of bridge for the
Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR).

The link road forms a key part of
the 29.6km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-
Macao Bridge (HZMB), which will
create a strategic traffic network
connecting Hong Kong, Macao and
Zhuhai in China.
The joint ventures contract is the
largest single design and build civil
works contract ever awarded in
Hong Kong.
Birds eye view rendering of the bridge
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Constraints in the vicinity of Hong
Kong International Airport mean
that stringent height restrictions
need to be observed. This affects
the selection of construction
methods and equipment including
the marine barges, cranes and
deck erection equipment.

The bridge foundations take the
form of bored piles. The typical
columns will be precast and the
superstructure will adopt the
precast segmental construction
method using overhead balanced
cantilever erection girders and
lifting frames.

1- segment lifting systems
For all segments, through-holes
with conically shaped upper parts
will be provided in the top slab to
allow the installation of segment-
lifting attachments. The
attachments consist of special
machined lifting bars and cones.
These are not stressed, but are
jammed into the conical part of
the lifting hole to ensure transfer
of the shear forces.

2- pier-top hanger beams
The pier-top hanger beams are
temporary steel supporting beams
used for the suspension of the
+1 segments at each side of the
cast-in-situ pier heads of the
landside viaducts. The hanger
beam is stressed down to the pier
top, and the gantry is then used to
bring the +1 segments to the pier
and transfer them to the beam.
Once both +1 segments for both


Installation of piles for a temporary
piling platform
Driving permanent casings
Piling work proceeds on multiple fronts.
carriageways are in position, they are
aligned and the wet joints are cast.
After the permanent tendons have
been installed and stressed, the pier-
top hanger beam can be removed by
crane for installation and reuse at the
next pier.

3- lifting frames
Different types of lifting frames will
be adopted for segment erection in
various areas of the long-span
viaducts and the turn-around area,
where erection by launching gantry
is not possible.
The frames are being designed to lift
one segment at a time from a delivery
barge, and raise it to the required
erection position. There are two
general forms - a cantilever frame and
a full-span frame.
The cantilever frame is designed for
installation on top of the deck and will
move forward along the deck as each
segment in turn is lifted and stressed
in place. For each balanced cantilever
there are two such lifting frames, at
opposing cantilever tips.


OWNER
Highways Department, HKSAR
Government

ENGINEER
Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Dragages - China Harbour -
VSL Joint Venture

MAIN CONTRACTORS DESIGNER
Mott MacDonald, YWL Engineering,
Bureau dEtudes Travaux Publics
Bouygues

VSL ENTITY
VSL Hong Kong

DATE
2012 - 2016

4- segment loading
Loading the segments ready for
installation on the landside viaducts
will be carried out using a steel
gantry system specifically designed
to transfer the precast concrete
bridge elements from a delivery
barge up to the bridge deck. An
existing gantry truss is to be used,
supported on top of a set of towers.
A winch mounted in a trolley runs
along the top of the truss, and is
used to lift segments from the
barge and transfer them to a
delivery trailer on the viaduct.

The project also features input from
other parts of the VSL group.
VSL-Intrafor has contributed to the
joint ventures tender team by
carrying out thorough studies for
the foundation and superstructure
works, whilst FT Laboratories
proposed a comprehensive
structural health monitoring (SHM)
system.

VSL will continue to contribute to
the fully integrated JV team in its
role as a main contractor on the
project.