Jakarta. The government has lauded Indonesian engineer Arvila Delitriana for her design of the longest curved concrete bridge in the country that allows for timely and on-budget construction of Jakarta's Light Rail Transit project.

The long-span flyover is a key part of an LRT network that will connect Jakarta with its satellite cities – Bogor, Depok and Bekasi.

State-owned construction company Adhi Karya is working on the construction and expects to complete it in 2021.

Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said Arvila's design is an innovation in infrastructure engineering.

"Arvila managed to solve the complicated issue of crossing above the Kuningan Square intersection,” Bambang said. 

The flyover, which was completed in November, stretches from Jalan Gatot Subroto to Jalan Rasuna Said in South Jakarta, over an already congested intersection already crossed by a two-way flyover and an underpass.

Arvila's design won over three other designs suggested by a French design consultant – a steel box girder with an incremental launching method, a cable-stayed design and a concentrate box girder balanced cantilever with a middle column.

"[The other three designs] would have been harder to implement since they required additional structures. Arvila's design actually strengthens the already existing structures," Bambang said. 

Arvila's curved concrete bridge, 148 meters long with a 115-meter curve radius, was the better solution. The bridge's foundation weighed 4,400 tons and the upper part weighed 2,939 tons, equal to five Airbus airplanes.

"The designs by the international consultant were going to create issues later on. My solution was the curved structure even though it was challenging to construct, especially since the pillars are of different heights," Arvila said at the Research and Technology Ministry headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.

"Trains, unlike cars, cannot tolerate strong vibrations. But this bridge has been specially designed to handle trains," Arvila said.

The flyover received two awards from the Indonesian World Record Museum (MURI) and already drew praises from Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

Arvila has been designing flyovers and other road infrastructures for 20 years. The 50-year-old is a graduate of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology.  She is now the director of Bandung-based engineering consultant Cipta Graha Abadi.

She previously designed the Kali Kuto flyover in Semarang, the Kertosono interchange flyover in Solo and the Cirebon-Kroya train flyover.

Construction on the curved LRT flyover started in September 2015, executed by Adhi Karya and state railway company Kereta Api Indonesia. It cost a total of Rp 20.75 trillion ($1.4 billion) or Rp 467 billion per kilometer.

The entire LRT track will have 14 stations spread across Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi.

The curved flyover is expected to begin operation in 2021 after test runs in the same year.

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