Upgrade work is being carried out to the Calix Viaduct in Northern France, which carries the E46/N814 route. The viaduct spans the ship canal and the River Orne in the city of Caen and was built in the 1970s. However, as it carries around 80,000 vehicles/day, it is now showing signs of wear and is being maintained and upgraded to ensure it remains in good condition.
The project to rehabilitate the 1.2km viaduct is now commencing and is being carried out between 2026 and 2029. The first stage of the work will take around 15 months and is costing €22 million. The remaining two phases of the project will be carried out in 2028 and 2029, with the entire project costing around €40 million. Barriers and signage are being replaced first, followed by structural upgrades. The final stage will be adding new waterproofing, roadway, joints, reservoirs and sidewalks.
Like many reinforced concrete structures built in the 1970s, it is carrying far more traffic than it was designed for and suffers many of the commonly seen limitations of the engineering of the time when it was built. The structure features twin lanes in either direction and a total of 15 spans, with a central span of 156m allowing a clearance of 38m for vessels.
Improvements were carried out on the Calix Viaduct in 2021 to address cracking in the caissons. During this time, there was a temporary ban on the use of the crossing by vehicles weighing more than 3.5tonnes.
