Near the small town of Bobbio, Ponte Lenzino carries traffic over the Trebbia River on national roadway S.S.45. Built in the late 1800s, the masonry bridge has undergone numerous structural adjustments, but in October 2020, heavy flooding caused the collapse of the intermediate pier and the two inner spans, resulting in an immediate impact to traffic, which was forced to take a 15 km detour through mountainous roads. The long detour was of particular concern during the global pandemic, as it resulted in the delay of emergency medical response to neighboring communities.

The temporary modular bridge to enable the passage of vehicles during the rehabilitation of Ponte Lenzino in the Trebbia River Valley in northern Italy. Located in the Apennine Mountains, the region is an extremely popular year-round tourist destination known for its natural beauty and rich cultural history.

A temporary panel bridging system was considered early in the planning process to enable the rapid restoration of the crossing on a temporary basis quickly, safely and efficiently. Of critical importance was the robustness of the solution to serve local communities for the duration of the multi-year reconstruction of the damaged bridge.

The Acrow bridge designed for the project is a single span 700XS®, 54.86 meters long and 7.35 meters wide to carry two lanes of traffic and is engineered for heavy Eurocode loads up to 44 metric tonnes.

With re-opening of the route so crucial, bridge construction was completed in 12 days and the bridge was opened to traffic on July 6th. It is anticipated that the Acrow bridge will remain in place for a minimum of two years, however, the timeline is dependent on the completion of the new permanent bridge and the challenging location in which it will be built in the Trebbia River Valley.