An important production achievement has been recorded in the history of UAB Tilsta – for the first time in the company’s history, the reinforced concrete workshop produced prestressed reinforced concrete bridge beams, each weighing as much as 54 tonnes and measuring 24 metres in length. This is the heaviest reinforced concrete product ever manufactured by the company, becoming a serious but successfully overcome challenge for both the production team and the lifting equipment.

In total, Tilsta produced four such beams commissioned by UAB Alkesta. They will be used in the reconstruction of the bridge over the Širvinta River, located at kilometre 5.31 of the national regional road No. 185 Vilkaviškis–Gražiškiai.

According to Audronius Šereika, Production Director at UAB Tilsta, a project of this scale required strong focus and significant time resources – the production of the beams took 16 weeks.

“A great deal of attention had to be paid to preparation: coordinating documentation, preparing calculations and certifying the production process. This was followed by complex production stages, including setting up the casting mould, manufacturing the mould base and end elements, creating the reinforcement cage, installing the ducts for the prestressing strands and the cage, placing the concrete, pushing through the strands, tensioning and grouting them,” said A. Šereika, describing the beam production process.

Transporting these products to the construction site also posed considerable challenges. The beams are not only impressive in weight, but also 24 metres long. Loading products of such weight and dimensions onto vehicles was a complex task. The weight of one loaded vehicle was approximately 90 tonnes. The beams were transported along a route specially selected for such loads and accompanied by an escort.

Although Tilsta continues to focus on its day-to-day projects, this order significantly expanded the company’s production capacity and technological capabilities.

“From an engineering perspective, we have taken a major step forward. There are only a handful of companies in Lithuania capable of producing reinforced concrete structures of this weight and dimensions. That is why we can be truly proud of our work. I sincerely thank the entire team that contributed to the implementation of this exceptional order,” said A. Šereika.

According to A. Šereika, Tilsta will continue to produce unconventional, non-standard and one-off products. Therefore, anyone who has bold – perhaps even seemingly crazy – ideas but does not know how to implement them is welcome to contact the company, which will help turn those ideas into reality.