Faenza united with the opening of the Bailey and Grazie bridges

With the reopening of the Bailey and Grazie bridges, today, Friday 19 April, is a highly anticipated day for the people of Faenza. In fact, this morning it was restored circulation between the two historic centers of the cityithe historic center and Borgo Durbecco across the Grazie bridge, which had been closed to traffic in May last year after the floods which had heavily undermined the deck, and the new temporary Bailey-type bridge.

In addition to the representatives of the local institutions, the short ceremony was attended by the Vicar of the Diocese of Faenza and Modigliana, Don Michele Morandi, technicians from the Public Works Sector of the Union of Romagna Faentina who followed the works, the technicians and the workers of the companies who worked and in the presence of the extraordinary commissioner for the reconstruction after the floods in Emilia Romagna, the general Francesco Paolo Figliuolo. As regards the Bailey bridge, this was built about thirty meters upstream from the Ponte delle Grazie, joining the two banks of the Lamone river between via Renaccio and via Ugo Piazza.

Going into detail, the Bailey-type bridge was built with a modular truss structure with a lower path on a single span of approximately 73.4 meters. The transverse section has two end trusses with a height of approximately 4.8 m, placed at a distance between centers of approximately 6.4 m, connected by crosspieces and stringers that create the road deck. The road section useful for the passage of motor vehicles has a useful width of 4.2 metres. The structure is supported by ‘shoulders’ measuring 8x5x1 meters resting on double rows of piles with a diameter of one meter and a length of 25 meters drilled deep into the two banks of the Lamone river.

The Bailey Bridge: how it was built

Its creation involved various professionals who worked in synergy in a very compressed time with the aim of restoring a fundamental connection to the city. The first activities carried out were the construction of the foundation piles and related abutments and then leaving room for the preparation of the construction site for the launching of the prefabricated bridge. In correspondence with the supports of the Bailey type bridge, as protection of the embankment body from possible localized erosion phenomena which could expose the foundation works of the bridge and trigger widespread erosion of the embankment, a protection with natural boulders. The construction time for the foundations lasted about a month and from 1st to 31st March the company in charge carried out the launching of the bridge.

The definition of the intrados level of the temporary bridge, higher than that of the Grazie, led to the need to construct two ramps connecting to the road level protective guardrails have been mounted on the sides; furthermore, to facilitate traffic for vehicles that have to cross the bridge, a roundabout, with a diameter of 25 metres, was built at the intersection between via Renaccio and via Lapi which will also be maintained in the final configuration of the traffic to improve road safety in that stretch. Cost for the construction of the ancillary works and for the installation of the Bailey Bridge, including rental for 24 months and the works was 1,880,994.32 VAT included, of which approximately 80 thousand euros donated by ANCE Emilia Romagna, the national association of building constructors, and the remaining part through ordinances of the commissioner structure for extremely urgent works.

Ponte delle Grazie, extraordinary maintenance intervention

In order to reopen the Bridge of Graceswhich closed in May last year, was instead required an iExtraordinary maintenance intervention to reinforce the deck beams. This allows, while waiting for the Safety Plan of the Right Po Basin Authority which will define the technical methods for the construction of a new building, to be able to reopen it to vehicles under 3.5 tonnes in one direction only so as not to burden it excessively and in both directions for bicycles and pedestrians. The maintenance work on the Ponte delle Grazie cost a total of 200,000 euros including VAT, which also came from the commissioner’s office. The works were delivered in approximately 70 days.