PENANG BRIDGE WIDENING, PENANG, MALAYSIA

The 13.5km long Penang Bridge that connects the Penang Island to the mainland of Peninsular Malaysia was opened to traffic in 1985. It played a key role for commuting, commercial activites and tourism and with a sudden unexpected rise in traffic volume it could no longer meet the medium to long term traffic demand projections.

HSS was appointed as the Engineering Consultants for the third lane widening of the existing Penang Bridge from dual two-lane to dual three-lane configuration. The design concept of the widening works involved the following:

• Extending the substructure on either side at each pier location and providing two additional beams with a composite deck slab on each side of the deck.
• Installing two bored piles, an extension of pile cap, a new column and an extension of the crosshead on each side at each pier location
• Providing structural connections between the existing and the new works at pile cap and deck level.