Client:
Irish Rail
Consultants:
Irish Rail Structures
Location:
OB682, Athlone, Co Westmeath
OB 681 is a twin masonry arch railway over bridge. The bridge carries a local road over the Athlone – Mayo Railway line. One of the abutments of the bridge was founded on a sand bank and in recent times this sand had begun to erode. Work involved the provision of containment measures around the sand foundation by casting an inclined concrete slab surrounding the base of the abutment. This slab was propped at its toe by bored piles.
The foundation of the existing pier was exposed and an RC cap was cast surrounding the pier base. Adjacent to the bridge there was an area where slope stabilisation was an issue. A 15m section of retaining wall was constructed to stabilize this slope. It consisted of bored piles connected by a capping beam on top of which a 1.6m high RC wall was cast. Adjacent to level-crossing LX027 there was another area where slope stabilization measures were required & this involved the construction of approximately 50m of Gabion Baskets and grading of the slope.
