ViaCon Türkiye rehabilitated the Saklivadi culvert on the busy Balikesir-Manisa roadway.
The Challenge
The Balıkesir – Manisa road is a very busy roadway in Turkey, connecting major regions Marmara and Ege, the Saklıvadi culvert is located under the road. To keep this busy road both safe and operational, the culvert structure needed to be replaced. However, the culvert structure is a reinforced concrete arch structure with a span of 12 metres, a height of 6 metres and a length of 145 metres with approximately 30 metres of backfill dead load on the culvert.
Constructing an entirely new culvert would require that the road be completely closed to traffic while the 30-metre-high fill on the old culvert was removed and the old culvert demolished. Then a new culvert would have to be constructed in its place, with the road only reopening to traffic once backfilling was completed.
Not only would this take too much time (it was not possible to close this road for such a length of time) and create extensive economic burdens for the region, it would demand a massive budget outlay to undertake.
The Solution
Looking for faster and more economical alternatives, the Bursa Regional Directorate of Highways decided to retrofit the road with ViaCon steel culvert systems in partnership with ViaCon.
The tender for the ViaCon MultiPlate steel culvert systems reinforcement project was done in 2023, and the culvert reinforcement work was completed in October 2023. The gap between the existing culvert and the ViaCon structure was filled with a concrete injection.
The ViaCon steel structure construction was completed in just two weeks. The work was completed without disrupting traffic, traffic safety was not jeopardised, and the most economical and time saving solution was implemented, avoiding a huge workload and expenditure and making the most of existing resources.
The ViaCon Advantage
The benefits of rehabilitating a culvert rather than constructing a new one with ViaCon include:
Rapid installation: Completed in just two weeks, minimal traffic disruption and avoiding lengthy road closure
Cost benefits: Speedier construction made economic sense, ensuring smooth traffic and time savings on construction
Sustainability: Rehabilitating existing infrastructure saved resources, making use of existing structures and extending their lifespan
Technical specifications
Fabricator: ViaCon Türkiye
Size: SuperCor Special 36S
Corrosion protection: Galvanised stee
