Bridge over Amata river

The Vidzeme Highway near Melturi crosses the valley of Latvia's fastest river, the Amata. The previous bridge was built and in operation since 1953. This project was designed by “Sojuzdorprojekt” Belarus in Minsk. The span was 25.46 m. When the structure was assessed, only the arch abutments were found to be partially serviceable, while the carriageway structure was not fully up to modern requirements: the reinforcement did not have a sufficiently thick protective layer, the waterproofing was damaged and there were visible chips and cracks.

After the reconstruction, the longitudinal profile of the bridge crossing was improved, the roadbed was widened and a new bridge with a wide carriageway was built, resulting in significantly improved road safety conditions. The road bridge span consists of two 3,2 m wide variable-thickness clamped monolithic reinforced concrete arches (0,75 m at the foot, 0,5 m at the crest) connected by two cross-ties. The arches retain their existing span length of 25,46 m. The elevation of the arches has been increased to 7,274 m (1/3,5 of the span) due to the raising of the longitudinal profile of the road. The arches are built on the existing foundations and widened. The reinforced concrete carriageway slab (0,5 m thick) is supported on 0,4 m thick walls. The carriageway slab is divided into 7 spans of 7 m + 5 x 9 m + 7 m. The total length of the bridge including the wings is 65 m.