Pelješac Bridge

The bridge is located in EU Nature Reserve, which is a seismically active area, with a designed ground acceleration ag=0.34g, a 10- minute wind speed was 33.7m/s, and gust speeds of up to 50m/s during the construction stage. With our expertise and technology, all parties worked together to assist the contractor in successfully completing the contract, despite the unfavourable geological conditions, harsh meteorological conditions, and limitations of natural environmental protection restrictions. The average depth of the seabed is 27m. The extralarge pile-driving barge was used to drive extralong steel tubular piles, of which the longest pile was up to 130.6m, which acquired the worldwide record for the longest steel-driven pile. The air bubble curtain noise reduction method was adopted during pile driving to protect marine life. Besides, the C70/85 high-strength concrete was used to cast the pylons. The timely fabrication, delivery, and installation of over 65,000t of the strictest EXC4-class structural steel were crucial for the successful completion. The structural health monitoring system was installed to synchronously collect data for structure analysis since the beginning of the construction, which was also first adopted for bridge engineering worldwide. Although the pandemic had an impact, the contractor still completed the task on time.