Here we go! The groundbreaking ceremony for the replacement of the 441 m long Hunte Bridge on the A29 highway near Oldenburg took place on November 23, 2023. The event was hosted by the Federal Minister for Digitalization and Transport and the managing directors of of the German federal government’s Autobahn GmbH. The A29 is an important traffic artery that connects the only deep-water port in northern Germany with the A1 and the hinterland. The existing bridge over the river Hunte needs to be replaced by a new bridge at the same location due, among other things, to increasing traffic volumes.
The new Hunte Bridge will be constructed as a modern prestressed concrete box girder bridge using the incremental launching method. The span width of the bridge over the Hunte will be significantly increased to accommodate shipping on the Hunte. The prestressed concrete superstructure will also optimize the span and reduce the number of piers.
WTM Engineers has been involved in the planning of the Hunte Bridge for many years, carrying out recalculations and feasibility studies, and was finally responsible for the demolition planning of the existing bridge as well as the project and structural design of the new Hunte Bridge. One of the special features of this project is the status as BIM pilot project of Autobahn GmbH. Being the overall BIM coordinator, WTM Engineers merged the specialist models for the demolition and replacement construction, carried out collision checks and created standards for the client's future BIM projects based on the usecases assessed.
Together with our client, Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes, and our project partners, grbv Ingenieure im Bauwesen and meyer+schubart Beratende Ingenieure, we are pleased to report that the project to implement this major bridge is now underway.