China Opens Record-Breaking Bridge Over Canyon
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
#canyon #bridge #china #record #construction
The world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge has been completed in China, reported The Telegraph. The bridge, named the Aizhai Extra Large Suspension Bridge, will link together two tunnels 1176 meters apart, and 355 meters above Hunan's Dehang Canyon.
The bridge is a key part of the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, a 64-kilometer road which has 18 different tunnels which cover about half of its length. It is hoped the bridge will help ease traffic jams which are common in the mountainous area which has narrow, steep and winding roads. The structure is supported by a base that is 24.5 meters wide and is designed for speeds of around 80 kilometers per hour. Pedestrians can also walk along it on a special walkway under the road. It has been dotted with 1888 lights to increase visibility at night.
According to The Shanghaiist online publication, the bridge construction began in October 2007 and was completed in December 2011 with the assistance of a US$ 208 million load from the Asian Development Bank, cutting travel time from Jishou to Chadong from four hours to less than one hour. As mentioned Chen Mingxian, a renowned bridge expert and commander of the Aizhai bridge construction headquarters, the Aizhai Bridge bridges the Jishou-Chadong Highway with its steel truss girder bridge. Although it won't be not the highest bridge in the world by deck height (interestingly, this title also belongs to the Chinese, the Si Du River Bridge has a deck height of a staggering 496 meters), the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group and its partners created 4 No.1s (according to them) in the world architectural feats -- First, the construction of its 1176 meters long main span suspension bridge that crosses its canyon; Second, the first use of a pylon and girder separation structure; Third, the first use of a rock anchor in suspension and the use of carbon fiber as its pre-stressed reinforcement material; and lastly, the first adoption of rail cable sliding techniques used to erect the steel truss girder.
China is also home to the longest bridge in the world. The 164.8 thousand meters long Danyang Kunshan Grand Bridge was built in 2010 to carry the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.
The bridge is a key part of the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, a 64-kilometer road which has 18 different tunnels which cover about half of its length. It is hoped the bridge will help ease traffic jams which are common in the mountainous area which has narrow, steep and winding roads. The structure is supported by a base that is 24.5 meters wide and is designed for speeds of around 80 kilometers per hour. Pedestrians can also walk along it on a special walkway under the road. It has been dotted with 1888 lights to increase visibility at night.
According to The Shanghaiist online publication, the bridge construction began in October 2007 and was completed in December 2011 with the assistance of a US$ 208 million load from the Asian Development Bank, cutting travel time from Jishou to Chadong from four hours to less than one hour. As mentioned Chen Mingxian, a renowned bridge expert and commander of the Aizhai bridge construction headquarters, the Aizhai Bridge bridges the Jishou-Chadong Highway with its steel truss girder bridge. Although it won't be not the highest bridge in the world by deck height (interestingly, this title also belongs to the Chinese, the Si Du River Bridge has a deck height of a staggering 496 meters), the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group and its partners created 4 No.1s (according to them) in the world architectural feats -- First, the construction of its 1176 meters long main span suspension bridge that crosses its canyon; Second, the first use of a pylon and girder separation structure; Third, the first use of a rock anchor in suspension and the use of carbon fiber as its pre-stressed reinforcement material; and lastly, the first adoption of rail cable sliding techniques used to erect the steel truss girder.
China is also home to the longest bridge in the world. The 164.8 thousand meters long Danyang Kunshan Grand Bridge was built in 2010 to carry the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.
