The deck, made of 60 MPa white concrete, accommodates six traffic lanes, two bicycle paths, totalizing the central 31 m width, and two wide walkways, which take the total width up to almost 43 m. At the joining section of the arch and deck, the deck width reaches locally a maximum of 68 m.All four legs of the arch are monolithically fixed to the deck; the deck also has a lower abacus fixed to it, which acts as a pier head for the substructure to transmit vertical loads from the arch and deck to the pier and foundation, through large pot bearings just underneath this abacus and on top of the piers. AbstractThis article describes t he arch loading of the Third Millennium Bridge, a major construction phase performed to indirectly stress the cable hangers close to their target value.The bridge is a bow-string-type arch made of high-strength white concrete and has a main span of 216 m.Arch loading was performed by leaving without pouring the top segment of the arch and installing within this room a set of parallel hydraulic jacks that were able to apply a working load of 120 MN and conveyed a compression load into the arch. This compression produced an upward displacement of the arch, which pulled up the hangers while loading them. Ideally, the loading would have continued up to fully supporting the deck from the arch through the hangers; however, it was stressed only up to 80% of the fully stressing load following the developed method statement, which accounted for eventualities.After this phase, the top segment of the arch was completed and hanger forces were brought to their final values by direct stressing of the cables.

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