Pont de Normandie Bridge, France

Aerial view of the finished bridge.

pylons and continued until final gap closure at midspan. Each section was initially loaded onto a barge and transported to bridge site, and it was then hoisted, welded and attached to the cable stays. The cable was then stressed and adjusted for geometric control. The stay cables are of the Freyssinet type where parallel-galvanized sevenwire strands are arranged inside a PEduct. The cables are arranged in two semifan shaped slightly inclined cable planes and suspend the girder each 19.65 m. treatment. The interior of the steel box girder will be protected against corrosion by means of dehumidification following principles used in large Danish steel bridges over the last 22 years. In order to strengthen the box girder plate diaphragms are placed per every four meters through the full length of the steel bridge. At the bridge edge all the cable stays are attached to transfer load from the bridge deck to the cables. These complicated edge sections arrived to the yard as prefabricated items including the eye plates for the cable anchors. Accurate planning was required to make the various panels fit together. The bridge erection proceeded from the concrete girder ends close to the The concrete pylons are shaped as an inverted Y, and will rise 215 m above the river.

Construction of the Normandy Bridge.

Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. 01-063e-02a

The Normandy Bridge is situated about 15 km east of Le Havre, and crosses the river Seine. With an effective width of 19.7 m the bridge will carry a twolane dual motorway. The superstructure of the viaducts and a 116 m portion of the stiffening girder from each pylon into the main span is designed as a concrete box girder, whereas the central 624 m part of the stiffening girder is designed as an aerodynamically shaped closed steel box to reduce the dead weight. Prefabricated steel panels with trough stiffeners were assembled to full width sections in the assembly yard. The yard contained two production lines for welding and trial assembly and one painting station for the exterior surface

Services Performed: Review of Preliminary Design Detailed Design of Main Bridge Steel Structures

Year of Completion: 1995 Construction Cost: $400M Client: Chambre de Commerce et dIndustrie du Havre