came on board after working as
an engineer for the Malaysian
army. “I was hand-picked and
seconded to the government for
this bridge”, he recalls. “There were
many obstacles during the early
stages and getting the project to
completion was very challenging.”
Among the roadblocks to
finishing the project were the
logistics challenges of building
a concrete structure in deep water.
The construction team needed to use
a floating concrete fender, which
would operate for up to three days at
a time, producing a concrete specially
designed to counter the corrosive
effects of saltwater.
Unstable soil strata in the area
also added a layer of difficulty to
constructing the substructure and
meant that bored pile operations
needed to extend to a depth of 127
metres to give the bridge sufficientsupport. The bridge’s location also necessitated the extensive
use of pre-cast concrete hollow spun piles. Some 5,168 spun
piles were employed, the most of any bridge in the world.
Similarly, the statnamic load test, which is used to assess
the load-carrying capacity of deep foundations, was one
of the largest ever conducted at 54 meganewton.
The bridge was designed with an eye to safety
considerations and its pronounced S curve design is intended
to combat driver fatigue and discourage speeding. There
were also broader safety concerns around natural disasters –
the planning of the bridge involved extensive consideration
of how it would withstand possible tsunamis or earthquakes.
The latter aspect of the bridge was tested when it was
battered with severe storms and rocked by a minor tremor
when being built. “At that time, we were still in the stage
of erecting an important part of the bridge that connects
different segments to each other,” Ashari recalls. “The tremor
wasn’t that strong, but it was still a challenge, so we were
satisfied all the necessary precautions were taken.”
Safety features built into the bridge include seismic
expansion joints to allow movement in an earthquake, and
laminated high damping rubber bearings, which greatly
reduce the energy transferred from the ground to the
structure during a seismic event. Collectively, these safetyHalf page advert
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