Janson Bridging BV- modular reusable bridges
Janson Bridging has extended their rental portfolio with another bridge system, design for motorways, with advantages of industrial, flexible and demountable ideas (IFD). More than 150 standard bridge elements have been produced in recent years to divert the traffic and make reconstruction works on the current highway possible with products that can be used also in future projects all over Europe.
Janson Bridging was founded in the Netherlands, and has offices in 7 European countries, so that circular thinking can be further promoted in Europe. By selling modular bridges both inside and outside Europe, the circular model is being adapted worldwide.
Building a bridge to the future
Since 1972, Janson Bridging has developed the rental of bridges as a core business, and has built up experience in the design and installation of many projects in and outside Europe.
There are a few unique selling points in the concept of Janson Bridging. Firstly, the desired bridge solutions with a certain length and width can be found by connecting standard bridge elements together in length and width. Secondly, all connections of the elements are made by pinned or bolted connections, to be able to separate and dismantle the various bridge parts for easy transport and re-use in future projects. To make this possible, the bridges are produced in a factory on the basis of a detailed drawing, painted, provided with an anti-skid layer and then deposited at a stock location. Then clients like contractors, event agencies and road authorities, will find their way to Janson Bridging if they need a modular bridge solution.
In Janson Bridging the concept of ‘circularity’ is a daily practice, as the same elements are used again and again. Indeed, the company sees a bridge as a composition of smaller objects, instead of a large unmodifiable object.
The Amstelveen casestudy
In Amstelveen, near Schiphol Airport of Amsterdam, the A9 road is currently being reconstructed into a new motorway that causes less nuisance and can handle more traffic. The project involved a lot of intersecting infrastructure that could not be closed during the works. Partly from stock and partly newly produced elements provided bridging solutions for this project. For this, more than 150 standard bridge elements have been produced in recent years to make this temporary highway possible. In this project, there are 4 bridges in the motorway and other 4 bridges used for the local interesting roads alongside or over the highway. When the bridge sections will be no longer needed in 3 years – when the renewed A9 will be ready – the bridge parts will be dismantled and put back in stock.
After this, the bridge elements will be given a new purpose somewhere on a project in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe. This movement of elements ensures circularity, and allows a contractor to not have to produce something himself or set up large polluting diversions. Similarly, it is important to point out that the steel used by Janson Bridging is produced from 100% scrap. This allows the material to be converted back into scrap once the technical life of the bridge section expires – usually sometimes after 30 to 40 years – and ensures that this circle has come full circle.