New bridge over Stóra-Laxá

A new bridge over Stóra-Laxá, on the border between Hrunamannarheppur and Skeiða- og Gnúpverjarheppur, was officially taken into use on July 13th 2023.
It is a double-lane, cast in place, post-tension beam bridge in four seas. The new bridge is built alongside a single lane older bridge that is planned to take on a new role as a pedestrian and riding bridge over Stóra-Laxá. Along with the construction of the bridge itself, the work involves the creation of a new road section of Skeiða- and Hrunamannavegur on both sides of the bridge, widening the T-intersection with Skarðsvegur and at Auðholtsvegur and the creation of a riding path. The total length of the road section is over 1,000 m and the riding path is about 300 m.
A number of challenges had to be faced in the construction of the bridge. One of them was that in January 2023, at the height of the bridge’s construction, the river burst with great force, while Stóra-Laxá had large slush floods occur in the loose. When it became clear that these weather conditions were developing, to save the unfinished bridge, it was necessary to act quickly by breaking the adjacent road, thus diverting the river.
Another challenge was that the bridge deck, which is 145 m long, was cast in one piece and in addition in the middle of winter, only a few days after the flood ended. As a result, a plastic-clad hut was built over the entire bridge so that 10 degrees temperature could be maintained on the bridge deck during the concrete work. The bridge contained about 1,200 cubic metres of concrete, and the concrete work lasted 30 consecutive hours. The organisation and preparation of such concrete work needs to be particularly carefully undertaken, where there are several shift changes during the period which need to be done smoothly. However, all this went very well and there remains a successful bridge that will greatly improve transport in this area.

VSO is responsible for:

• Construction supervision.
• Project consulting.

Project period: 2021-2023

Client: Vegagerðin (The Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration (IRCA).
Contractor: Ístak ehf.