Elbe Pedestrian Bridge
On June 2014, the official opening ceremony of a new pedestrian bridge across the Elbe river took place in the Czech city of Celakovice, around 25 kilometres to the north of the capital, Prague.
The bridge deck was made of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) from TBG Metrostav, a joint venture of HeidelbergCement and Metrostav, the biggest building company in the Czech Republic and the one that constructed the bridge.
The 242-metre bridge can be used by pedestrians and cyclists and is suitable for light vehicles up to a weight of 3.5 tonnes. The bridge is unique because of the first-time application of UHPC in a load-carrying structure in the Czech Republic.
Ultra-high performance concrete is a big challenge for modern concrete technology. UHPC is concrete with a compressive strength significantly above strength classes from the concrete norm EN 206 (compressive strength above 150 Megapascal = MPa), long durability, and high resistance against most aggressive environments. The estimated life span of UHPC is 200 years or more.
