3^rd December 2010 marks the history calendar of engineering in Malaysia as it is the date of the launching of Malaysia’s first ever Ultra-High Performance ‘ductile’ Concrete (UHPdC) bridge girder. This record breaking 50 m single span motorway bridge girder produced and designed by Dura Technology S/B and Perunding Faisal, Abraham dan Augustin S/B holds the marvel of engineering. To date, this bridge girder is considered as the world longest single-span prestressed UHPdC bridge girder for motorway application. The previous record was at 48 m in Japan.
    

 

The UHPdC bridge girder sat spectacularly across the Sungai Linggi, Rantau (Negeri Sembilan) without any pier/column at the waterway of the river. This piece of marvel demonstrates the unique properties of UHPdC for the application in bridge engineering. It was manufactured in Chemor, Perak and was transported out in seven segments to the site in Kampung Linsum. The site is 2 km off the main road and has narrow trunk road that leads to the main site.

 

It took two days to set-up the steel framed transfer girder and another one day to completely launch the whole 50 m girder across the river. There were some delayed due to it’s a rainy season. Contractors, JKR engineer representatives and even some villagers were also present to witness this significant event. The beam launching started at 10am and it sits perfectly on its abutment by 4pm. The whole process came by as a breeze though it was the first time for all the engineers and contractors involved.