Linden Comansa's High Way in Portugal

14 Flat-Top tower cranes from the Spanish manufacturer are working on the construction of several viaducts in a highway in Portugal

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The A4 highway in Portugal, which joins the cities of Oporto and Amarante, north of the country, has nowadays a length of 63 kilometres. Nevertheless, in the future will join Oporto with Braganza and the border with Spain with more than 150 totally new kilometres in which the Portuguese State and the concessionary companies are already working.

The first section of this extension, which communicates Amarante and Vila Real, has a length of 29.8 kilometres. The consortium formed by construction companies Somague and MSF Engenharia is in charge of the works, which include two tunnels, with a total length of 5.7 km, and thirteen viaducts, with a total of 4 km. At four of these viaducts, an impressive number of 14 Linden Comansa tower cranes are being used nowadays, thanks to Ibergru, official distributor of the Spanish company in Portugal.

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Viaduct No3, in the valley of the Marão river, will be the highest and longest of all those of the highway, and one of the biggest in Portugal. It will have a height of 134 meters, width of 29 meters, and length of almost 911 meters. Six Flat-Top tower cranes from Linden Comansa are being used at its construction: five 21 LC 290 and one LC 5211.

The 21 LC 290 tower cranes have maximum load capacity of 18 tons and have been erected with jib length of 74 meters (the maximum of this model). They are being used at the construction of the pillars of the viaduct, for what their heights change from 89 meters of the smallest to 149 of the highest. The LC 5211 tower crane has a maximum load capacity of 5 tons, and has been erected with jib length of 40 meters and freestanding height of also 40 meters.

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The other 8 Linden Comansa tower cranes that are working on the rest of viaducts are five 21 LC 290 with maximum load of 18 tons, two 21 LC 210 with maximum load of 12 tons and one LC 5211 with maximum load of 5 tons.

As well as renting all the Linden Comansa cranes of the jobsite, Ibergru has contributed its experience in qualified technical consultancy in large projects, guaranteeing that the work is being executed in the best conditions of efficiency and safety.

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When the works are finished, in 2012, the new A4 highway will be the third longest in Portugal and will absorb the traffic of one of the roads with more incidents, improving the safety of the drivers in a significant way. The budget invested in this project, which will improve the road connections between North-East Portugal and Spain, is estimated to be superior to 700 million Euros (more than 950 million Dollars).