The Cast-in-Situ segmental bridges were very famous in France in the 70s and the 80s.

I had a chance to work on many

of them when lived in Europe. The Nantua- Neyrolles viaducts on the A-40 highway in France had always a place for my
admiration as a Segmental Bridge with a unique concept, built by Grands Travaux de Marseille (GTM) which is now part
of the VINCI Construction. I feel fortunate to explore and come cross of these state of the art viaducts work in the
beginning of my bridge career at Setauroute at Ville d'Annecy, Dpartement de la Haute-Savoie in the 80s.
Little background of this segmental bridge structure: In a traditional Segmental balanced cantilever bridge the engineer
determines the segmentation based on the geometry of the existing terrain and the landscape by determining the main
spans and the approach spans. Normally, the segmental bridge consists of couple of main spans, then transition spans
and two edge spans on each side of the structure. The edge spans are usually 0.6 X (L1+L2) of the adjacent spans to
best fit the purpose as described below:
But the Nantua viaduct (1003 m long, 10 spans) had an exceptional concept with unique characteristics. On the west
side, the two viaducts merges with the head of the tunnel of Chamois. On the east sides the two Nantua
Viaducts merges with the Neyrolles Viaducts (782 m long, 17 spans). Due to the topography of the terrain and the
adjacent cliff where the Chamois tunnel was constructed, the above concept of starting with an edge span of 0.6 X
(L1+L2) wasnt possible. Moreover, this unique feature of this viaduct was the impossibility of constructing a pier near
the head of the Chamois tunnel due to screes. The engineer need it to come up with a concept to treat the first span as
it was a main span in a normal balanced cantilever segmental bridge. Therefore, it was necessary to come up with a
good means & method to restore the equilibrium of the half of the cantilever of the first span (adjacent to the tunnel) to
maintain the stability. This was achieved by using concrete counterweight mass of 35.5 x 8.70 meters and about 3000
Euro Tons built at the base of the head of the Chamois tunnel. The spans of this viaduct varied from 57 to 124
meters. The superstructure had a very slight vertical cross slope, and gradual horizontal spiral curves. The viaduct
consisted of caissons or cast-in-situ segments (with a weight of 60 to 85 euro tons each) whose heights varies from 3
meters to 8.45 meters.
The construction method used for erection engineering of these viaducts were balanced cantilever method with cast in
place segments by means of five movable bridge construction equipments used for the balanced cantilevers (4 of them
was used for 2 Piers at the time + 1 for each extremity for half of a cantilever). Internal prestressing wiring to the
concrete box girders was used for these viaducts, and subsequently external prestressing.

Apart from a complex geology and the steep cliff on the Chamois tunnel side, it was necessary to adapt to the site which
includes the passage of the SNCF rail tracks just beneath of the second span, drinking water catchments and some
houses. Concerning the construction of the second structure of the Nantua viaduct, it was necessary to pay more
attention to the first neighboring structure, and in particular to the winter construction phase where the salting of the
neighboring road could be problematic with the building materials used on the (Concrete and the reinforcing steel). This
viaduct incorporates anti-seismic provisions of zone classified IA in the Euro code EN 1998. The Piers and the
superstructure uses fixed pier/superstructure condition solution and has a central structural hinge equipped with Mageba
expansion joint. .
The Nantua- Neyrolles viaducts were built in two stages: The first structure finished in 1985 with two traffic lanes
directions on the same roadway and the second structure was built with an offset in height (from 0 to 7 meters on the
Neyrolles side). It was opened to traffic in 1996, thus obtaining 2 x 2 traffic lanes separated by two viaducts. The Fixed
Piers of these viaducts consisted of a dozen of cast in place hollow boxes segments for each pier with the use of a
climbing formwork even back then. The piers height varies from 46 to 77 meters, the largest piers being flared at their
bases to better withstand the wind. The foundations (varies from 14 to 21 meters deep) required either the use of the
molded wall technique or the use of Moroccan wells in alluvium type of soil which are basically large diameters shaft or
CIDH piles beneath the footings (These type of foundations are spread along the A40 highway). Also the use of spread
footings on limestone steps in some locations when rocky condition exists and many anchored retaining walls was used
along the alignment.
 By Gary Vito Cavafian
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FollowingUnfollowGary Vito Cavafian

Gary Vito Cavafian

Senior Bridge Engineer/Manager at AECOM Technology
4 articles
8 comments
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3d

Curt Pierre
Highway & Infrastructure Associate Consultant at EnviroPlus Consulting Inc
Thanks for sharing
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3d

christophe PITANCE
mtallerie, faades, tolerie, design 3D
thank you for your post. I was part of the team who buildt the second bridge and repare the concrete equipement of the
first one. its still great souvenirs for me
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1
4d

Frmont Guy
Consultant chez Ing. Frmont
Thank you for your presentation, very clear and complete. Congratulations. It is interesting to note that this technique
has been used first time, beginning of the 1960's, extensively (Lacroix-Falgarde, Goncelin, Charmes, Choisy, Brest...) ,
but Nantua-Neyrolles is a must.
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1w
Richard Guerin
Owner chez RGD Holding
Thank you for this post wich remind me the time I supply grouts for bridge bearing on viaduct #2 and few months later
on the rewamping of viaduct #1 for grouting security barreer From this job come the french recommandation GRA for
the frost and defrost caracteristic that concrete must have with the famous L - (the distance beetween bubbles in
concrete ) Nice time with Scetauroute and colleague as Francis Ielmoli
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1w

Stefan Laufer, PLS

Project Surveyor
great post, thank you for sharing. I remember when these were being build. and going back years later...a beautiful
stretch of road, a beautiful bridge
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2w

guillaume Plant
Directeur Chantier chez RAZEL BEC
Thanks Gary for your presentation of Nantua-Neyrolles bridge. Furthermore, an interesting comparison is the method
employed for building the 2 viaducts, the last last one (1995) some 10 years later: - the first one was built with overhead
formtravelers See more
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Robert Macias
Robert A Macias Construction Professional and Consultant and associates.
Crazy that some of the best Bridge builders in the world the French were cast in place segmental bridges in the 80s and
here in the United States were barley touch the process if only I had the chance to work with them I would put my bags
on and be all over that maybe one day never stop learning at least that my attitude .
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Marc Allafort
Senior Bridge Engineer, Project Manager, Local Team Manager at Jean Muller International (Egis JMI)
Excellent report. Cette autoroute porte bien son nom.. "Autoroute des Titans"