Railway viaduct in Tõrvandi and a bypass on the west side of Tartu

The overall length of the bypass on the west side is 12 km and it goes by Tallinn-Tartu-Võru-Luhamaa route from Kandiküla to Uhti. As a result of the reconstruction the bypass on the west side was turned to a four-lane first class highway. Three highway viaducts, one railway viaduct and one light traffic tunnel were built during the works.

A unique bridge construction was used during railway viaduct works – custom made 295 tons weighty bridge was lifted to the right place using a crane.

One of the biggest mobile crane was specially imported to Estonia to fulfill this kind of task. Railway traffic was disrupted only for 31 hours. During that period the railway was removed, hole for the viaduct was excavated, piles that were construced in May were cut to the right size, supporting elements were installed, the viaduct was lifted to its position, backfilling on the ends of the viaduct, drive-on plates were installed and the embankment and the superstructure were restored.

The client was The Road Administration, projector Estkonsult OÜ and the main contractor was Nordecon AS.

The deck surface of the railway viaduct was waterproofed using two-compound cold-applied rubber bituminous mixture GRACE Servidek. GRACE Servipak 12 mm protection boards were installed to protect the material. Side wings inner surfaces, incline poles back walls and drive-on plates of the viaduct were covered with rubber bituminous mastics FEB Aquaseal Hyprufe. Supporting masonry and highway road viaduct’s and light traffic tunnel’s incline poles were also covered with coating sealant.