Bosch Skywalk, Bangalore

The Bosch Campus at Adugodi Bangalore is separated by a link road between the north and south campus. Due to the heavy traffic on this road, the clients were facing lot of problems for the staff to cross over for the day-to-day activities, and the safety and security of the staff was being compromised. Bosch India Pvt. Ltd. appointed Innotech Engineering Consult Pvt. Ltd. to structurally design an elevated walkway crossing over the link road for ease of their pedestrian movement for the day-to-day work between the two campuses.

Initially, the staff members had to park their cars in the parking lot and walk across the busy road to their office. It was not only time consuming, but, hazardous too. The elevated walkway was conceptualised and designed by Innotech Engineering Consult India (P) Ltd, and Vyshakh Building Solutions Pvt Ltd were the appointed contractors for the same. Synergy Property Development Service was awarded the task of constructing a skywalk right across the busy road to provide office goers with a safe route to cross the road and reach their offices.

Structure
The structural concept was of space truss in segments to assemble the structure at site with cranes and bolts. The proposed walkway was 2.5m in width and 25.50m clear span with the foundations on either side of the campus. The clear height below the walkway was mandated to 5.5m above the road for fire truck and other transport vehicles movement. Innotech designed the structure in structural steel using square hollow sections of 100x100x5mm and 91.5×91.5×4.5mm for making it aesthetically pleasing.

The bridge was designed as space truss to use the efficiency of space truss system and optimise the cost. The floor was done using chequered plates and the roof cover using metal deck sheet. The two staircases on either side of the campus were designed using ISMC sections with chequered plates for the threads and risers.
Sections. The span was 25 metres and the cantilever bridge demanded special grade hollow sections. Fortunately, Tata Structura found the solution – with its YST 310 grade of structural. The chemical properties and tensile strength of the special grade met the requirements of such a structure which allowed 25 metres of the walkway to be suspended across the road.

A total of 65 tonnes of Tata Structura was used and the cost of the project was 7.0 million INR and was completed in a total span of 70 days including the designs, fabrication, erection and taking all necessary statutory approval from the concerned authorities.

“The main challenge faced in the execution of the elevated walkway was the fabrication & erection of the 25.5m span on the existing heavy traffic road and for this the design was made with connection in parts of 6m so that the same could be fabricated in the fabrication yard and transported without hindrances.”
T. S. GURURAJ
Chairman, Innotech Engineers Consult Pvt. Ltd.

Challenges
The main challenge faced in the execution of the elevated walkway was the fabrication and erection of the 25.5m span on the existing heavy traffic road, and for this, the design was made with connection in parts of 6m so that the same could be fabricated in the fabrication yard and transported without hindrances, these part were than assembled in the campus for a total span of 18m with all connection detail connect the same to the end bays having cantilever of 4.5m and 3m on either side of the columns supporting the same thereby not disturbing the traffic movement.

“For a decade now, Tata Structura steel hollow sections has continued to open up new possibilities in construction by encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and applications. The flexible, versatile, design friendly Tata Structura has time and again proven its worth as the ultimate innovative solution to complex problems. One such project was the creation of Bosch Skywalk at MLCP Campus in Bengaluru. Initially, staff members had to park their cars in the parking lot and walk across the busy road to their office. It was not only time consuming, but, hazardous too.”

VINEET SARAF
CMS Tubes, Tata Steel Ltd

Highlight
It was pre-fabricated and there was absolutely no disruption on the road while it was being erected. All it took was one night to install – easy availability of the requisite sizes simplified the job.

The highlight of the system is that entire erection across the road was completed with all safety precautions in just 5 hours.

Specifications
Total quantity of hollow sections used: 65 tonnes
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