The Bayonne Bridge is one of the longest steel arch bridge in the world, and was the longest in the world at the time of its completion. Connecting Bayonne, NJ to Staten Island, NY, construction began in late 1928 and was completed in 1931.Due to the fact that the bridge is only 151 feet above the water, the larger container ships, now available with the expansion of the Panama Cannal, could not pass through to access the three terminals or ports needed for shipment and distribution of their goods. The Port Authority announced it would “Raise the Roadway” of the Bayonne Bridge to 215 feet in order to allow safe passage for the larger ships coming into port.
Handan China Railway Bridge Machinery designed and manufactured 2 set of launching gantries for this "Raise the Roadway" project. Here are some facts about the launching gantries:
• The launching gantries haul and install the 70-ton (63.5 t), precast concrete segments that make up the new approach roadways to the new, elevated main span that is under construction at the Bayonne Bridge.
• There are a total of two launching gantries, one to build each of the two approach roadways to the new bridge span. (The roadways are on the New Jersey and New York sides of the Arthur Kill, respectively).
• During a standard eight-hour shift, each gantry can erect up to four precast concrete roadway segments (for a total of eight per shift). The project will use a total of 1,083 of these precast segments. This includes 541 for the northbound side of the roadway (243 in N.Y. and 298 in N.J.) and 542 for the southbound side (244 in N.Y. and 298 in N.J.).
• The two launching gantries are identical. Each is 477 ft. (145 m) long and weighs 500 tons (453.5 t). Each main support leg is 46 ft. (14 m) wide.
• The launching gantries are remote controlled using a wireless, radio frequency controller. They move using a rack and pinion drive system on top of each truss. Each is outfitted with a main hoist winch to erect the precast segments, and an auxiliary hoist winch for other operations such as post-tensioning.
• Each launching gantry was fully assembled at the our facility in China. They were then load tested, disassembled and shipped to the Bayonne Bridge project site. Each of the two gantries was shipped in 24, 40 ft. (12.2 m) sea containers (a total of 48 containers for the two gantries), then re-assembled on site where a static and dynamic load test was performed prior to the gantries being put into service.
In 2019, the American Segmental Bridge Institute (ASBI) awarded Bayonne Bridge a Bridge Award of Excellence due to its superior aesthetic harmony with the local environment, its rapid construction, cost competitiveness, and minimized impact on the traveling public during construction.
