Bridge on the river Po

Piacenza | Italy

This intervention won the award for the best job in the world at the 'World Demolition Awards' of 2012, and was the subject of a National Geographic Channel documentary. The challenge was to be able to demolish the part of the bridge over the river, protecting the piles, without harming the environment, without allowing material to fall on the river bed; all this while handling high tide, currents and the different levels of the River Po. Thanks to a purpose built system, consisting of hydraulic jacks placed on floating barges, some of the steel portions of the bridge, about 150 tons in weight, were raised during navigation and then spectacularly transported to dry land.

Bridge length: 1km Length of the bridge over the river: 200 m Bridge portions raised: 3 x 45 m Timing: 90 days