Enhancement of The Tarragona Drawbridge

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The Tarragona Drawbridge was built between the interior dock, located on the Moll de Costa where the El Serrallo maritime fleet is moored, and the Varadero dock, now in the mouth of the port.The works joined two of the quays with the highest rate of vessel movement in the whole port: the Lleida quay, where the vehicle terminal is located, and the Reus quay, where the fruit and food supplies vessels dock.Lorries transporting goods between the north and south quays do not have to cross the whole neighbourhood of El Serrallo and the Moll de Costa because of this bridge.The full project works included:The movable bridge is made up of two 51.5 m long leaves with 80 m between supports, leaving an opening over the dock for 70 m boats to pass through. It has a metal casing section with a thickness that varies between 2.32 m in the keystone and 3.80 m in the supports. The deck is a metal orthotropic slab with a 0.8 cm layer of paving. The first 11.5 metres of the bridge contain the counterweights designed to precisely balance the weight and permanent load of the deck. It does this in such a way that the centre of gravity of the structure - deck and counterweight - coincides with the axis of rotation and its support.The mechanisms of the movable bridge, central interlocks and interlocking piles, support bearings, hydraulic lifting system and electrical system are designed to raise and lower the movable sections with wind speeds of up to 120 km/h in two minutes.

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