Tadano CC 38.650-1 places 192-tonne tram bridge across Bologna canal

The bridge forms part of the new tram network taking shape in the northern Italian city, and its installation site sat squarely in the middle of a densely built-up district. Limited working space, surrounding urban infrastructure and the traffic of a busy city meant every stage of the operation had to be coordinated tightly — and called for a crane that could deliver big-lift performance within a confined footprint.

Superlift configuration for a city-centre pick

Autovictor rigged the CC 38.650-1 in its SSL_1 configuration with a 54-metre main boom and the Vario-SL superlift system carrying a 36-metre SL mast. The superstructure counterweight totalled 165 tonnes, with a further 50 tonnes of central ballast on the crawler carrier and 285 tonnes of counterweight on the superlift tray.

Getting that much crane into the Corticella district was a project in itself: the Autovictor team needed roughly two weeks to assemble the crawler crane on site before the bridge could be hooked on.

An hour to set the span

Against weeks of preparation, the lift itself was over quickly. Hoisting the 192-tonne welded steel span and setting it down on its abutments across the canal took just over an hour, with the structure landed to millimetre accuracy.

According to Tadano, the operation went exactly to plan — a result the manufacturer credits to Autovictor’s meticulous lift planning, the assembly crew and operators on the ground, and the capability of the CC 38.650-1 itself. For the crane, a 650-tonne-class machine more often associated with wind farm and industrial work, the Bologna job was a demonstration that lattice boom crawlers can also earn their keep in the heart of a city.

With the span in place, work on the surrounding tram infrastructure in Corticella can move ahead on both banks of the Navile Canal.