Van Leeuwen
Heavy wall carbon steel tubes used in la Passerelle Mont Saint Michel

Heavy wall carbon steel tubes used in la Passerelle Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint-Michel is one of France's top five tourist attractions. A Norman Benedictine abbey and monastery sit at the island's center, surrounded by the winding streets and elaborate architecture of the tiny medieval town.

A few years ago, the “Passerelle Mont Saint-Michel” was designed to replace the 135-year-old causeway that connects the monumental island of Mont St. Michel to the mainland. Once the causeway has been demolished, the new 760 meter long bridge will again allow the sea to flow across the estuary, transforming the Mont back into a real island for the first time in over a century. One of the other objectives behind replacing the access road was to prevent visitors driving across the water and parking up on the strand - to instead compel them to either walk over or take a shuttle bus.

The structure of the bridge is supported by a series of 134 pillars – steel tubes embedded on concrete pillars - each with a height of 12 meter. As the sea levels rise up to around 14 meter a few times per year, the surface will be allowed to regularly flood over, helping to wash away the silt. The structure of the work, and its curved outline, give the impression of a suspended, almost transparent wire in the landscape. Van Leeuwen France supplied the heavy wall carbon steel tubes for these pillars, with outside diameter 244,5 mm, in wall thicknesses 50 and 60 mm.

The pedestrian pathway was opened in July 2014 and will be officially inaugurated in November 2014.

 

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