A major archeological site underneath and a tight timetable forced engineers to improvise solutions on a key bridge project that is part of the $800-million upgrade of Israel's main highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Work on the two 800-meter-long precast spans on the Motsa Bridge along Highway 1 began in late August, part of a major rehabilitation and expansion of a 16-km segment that will add a third lane in each direction to ease congestion on one of Israel’s busiest arteries and improve safety of a particularly dangerous section.
“Under normal circumstances we would have built two separate bridges with a joint abutment,” says Yehuda Dugach, design manager for infrastructure projects at Israeli construction firm Danya Cebus Ltd., Tel Aviv, which was awarded the $170-million bridge project.