The Mount Edgecombe Interchange is contributing greatly to reducing traffic congestion, promoting road safety and is also a significant business enabler.

Installing bored piles, lateral support and dynamic replacement at mount edgecombe interchange

The project

Piling, earth retention & dynamic replacement was required for the upgrade of the Mount Edgecombe Interchange. The main civil contract comprised of a four level interchange with the highest bridge being 1 600m long & 27m high with the next level to be 700m long & 18m high. There was a total of 8 bridges.

The challenge

Achieving tender productions was a logistics challenge working around and in between one of the area’s busiest highways. In addition, lifting of the cages often occurred during extraction of the casings due to the tight tolerance between the reinforcement cage and the casing, and concrete workability period of only 1,5 hours. Mud rising in the casing due to back pressure also created serious challenges.

The solution

The scope of works consisted of 485 No 900mm diameter bored piles, 3 050m² of permanent & 4 200m² of temporary earth retention and 1 440 no. dynamic replacement stone columns.

Project facts

Owner(s)

SANRAL

Keller business unit(s)

Keller South Africa

Main contractor(s)

CMC Ravenna

Engineer(s)

SMEC