Hollandia Services completes bridge renovation with Enerpac cube jacks

Dutch infrastructure company, Hollandia Services, has used Enerpac cube jacks to complete the renovation of the bridge section of the Boekhorstbrug, Den Haag, Netherlands. The cube jacks allowed Hollandia to remove the bridge in an innovative and easy way, enabling refurbishment work away from the site and minimising disruption to the local community. Enerpac cube jacks were also used to subsequently install the renovated bridge.

The aging Boekhorstbrug table bridge is operated by hydraulic cylinders positioned at all four corners allowing the bridge to move up and down. It required significant maintenance. Outdated electrical and hydraulic systems needed to be completely replaced, and the entire road surface and bridge coating system renewed.

Usually, for a bridge of this kind, Hollandia would use a mobile crane on land or a crane on a vessel. However, in this case both options were not possible. Hollandia’s engineering department developed a lifting plan based on jacking up the bridge then driving a flatbed trailer with a slewing ring underneath the bridge. Lower the bridge onto the slewing ring to rotate it 90deg, allowing the bridge to be transported through nearby residential areas and highways to the wharf in Krimpen aan den IJssel.

“Our challenge was how to lift the bridge to a height of approximately 3m and be able to lower it back down in a short space of time. The Enerpac SCJ-100 cube jacks provided the perfect solution,” says Emiel Maas, project coordinator, Hollandia Services.

The Enerpac cube jacks only took 20 minutes to jack up the bridge from a height of 0.75m to 3m. This allowed the slewing ring to be positioned under the bridge which was then lowered to 2.3m, resting on the ring. After rotating the bridge, the cube jacks were re-engaged to raise the bridge again to 3m, allowing the bridge to be rested on stands on the flatbed trailer. For the reinstallation of the bridge, we simply reversed the process. It all went very smoothly.”

The SCJ-Series cube jack uses a base lifting frame and self-aligning, lightweight steel cribbing blocks to provide high-capacity and stabilized lifting – offering a safer, controlled and more efficient alternative to climbing jacks with wooden cribbing. The four cube jacks were connected together via a split-flow pump to provide synchronous lifting and lowering of the bridge.