Heavy Lift - Giant 7-Billion-Euro Flood Barrier
Heavy Lift - Giant 7-Billion-Euro Flood Barrier
Constant high water has been eroding the beautiful, unique city of Venice for decades, making life hard for its residents, businesses and tourists alike.
The plan to build a surge barrier against the tides that cause the so called “Acqua Alta” has been underway for nearly forty years, but only now is the massive 7-billion-euro surge barrier nearing completion. This documentary looks at the engineering, construction and instalment of this huge and unique mobile dyke that sits invisible under the Venice lagoon, until high tides trigger it to rise from the sea bed to protect the ancient City of Water. The last two stages of the construction of this enormous barrage involved placing the massive concrete underwater housing for the caissons that act as a barrier at the bottom of the lagoon entrance channels. The transport of the massive MOSE surge barrier and all its concrete and steel parts is a true feat of heavy lift technology and maritime engineering. Transporting the concrete beds required the customised construction of a catamaran that could be tugged over the exact location in the approach channels to the port of Venice, precisely identified using GPS while lowering the barriers involved a jack up tower which slowly sank them into place.
Today the system is fully operational. But only time will tell if this costly and controversial new maritime engineering solution to Venice’s nagging high water problem will actually work.
Constant high water has been eroding the beautiful, unique city of Venice for decades, making life hard for its residents, businesses and tourists alike.
The plan to build a surge barrier against the tides that cause the so called “Acqua Alta” has been underway for nearly forty years, but only now is the massive 7-billion-euro surge barrier nearing completion. This documentary looks at the engineering, construction and instalment of this huge and unique mobile dyke that sits invisible under the Venice lagoon, until high tides trigger it to rise from the sea bed to protect the ancient City of Water. The last two stages of the construction of this enormous barrage involved placing the massive concrete underwater housing for the caissons that act as a barrier at the bottom of the lagoon entrance channels. The transport of the massive MOSE surge barrier and all its concrete and steel parts is a true feat of heavy lift technology and maritime engineering. Transporting the concrete beds required the customised construction of a catamaran that could be tugged over the exact location in the approach channels to the port of Venice, precisely identified using GPS while lowering the barriers involved a jack up tower which slowly sank them into place.
Today the system is fully operational. But only time will tell if this costly and controversial new maritime engineering solution to Venice’s nagging high water problem will actually work.
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TV