The advantage of an unanchored expansion joint

For the “3 Kroonen” bridge located on highway A73 near Venlo, the Netherlands, mageba’s TENSA®CRETE RE-LS100 unanchored single gap joints were installed in cooperation with partner company Smits Neuchâtel Infrastructuur B.V.

This joint type, also featuring a noise-reducing surface, represents the perfect solution in response to the Dutch Highway Authority’s (Rijkswaterstaat) requirement not to influence the structural integrity. Hence it has to be avoided that the bridge structure suffers by demolition works and/or adding further reinforcement in the highly reinforced area, also containing the Post Tensioning Anchors, located relatively close to the expansion joints recess.

Authorities are more and more looking for solutions that do not require amendments to the structure and its reinforcement as this is usually the case when replacing the expansion joints, but still provide a design life of 25 years and higher.

This concern is solved by installing the TENSA®CRETE RE single gap expansion joints as ROBO®FLEX polymer concrete is used to connect the substructure and the joint itself. Thereby a durable, silent, comfortable and watertight solution for years to come is assured.