London's Blackfriars Tube station is on its way to becoming the world's largest solar bridge. Stretching across South Bank a stone's throw from the Tate Modern, the busy station, built by Solarcentury, has already reached the halfway point to completion. Construction on the world's largest solar bridge began on October 2011. Blackfriars Tube station is still fully functioning, ferrying Londoners and tourists from the popular South Bank promenade to areas all over the city. Yet construction is still underway across the bridge's rooftop. Heavy scaffolding is slowly being removed to reveal the 4,400 solar panels that will serve the station, pumping 900 thousand kWh of solar energy back into the grid each year. The solar powerhouse will also reduce CO2 emissions by 511 tons per year, all while promptly serving commuters with uninterrupted service around the city. The gorgeous Victorian bridge is the only bearing solar panels along the River Thames. With stellar city views, boats pass under the bridge's arches throughout the day, while the station serves 24 trains per hour. Pedestrians strolling along the South Bank walk way pass under the historic bridge, check out the progress of its solar modernization. The idyllic scene could be just a glimpse of London's future. With over 100 bridges crossing the River Thames throughout the city, adding additional solar arrays on any of them could drastically reduce the city's consumption of fossil fuels, and ensure a source of clean energy for generations to come, reducing emissions and overall carbon footprint.

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.

Recently, the construction of Barekamutyun bridge started across the Debed River at Sadakhlo-Bagratashen state border, as reported by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. At what stage are the construction works? “At present, work is underway on concreting the preparatory layer of the first coastal pillar, as well as excavation work on drilling, concreting and access roads of the first intermediate pillar,” the Road Department SNCO informed us. It is planned to build two parallel bridges, each with two pedestrian crossings and a sidewalk. “The construction of new bridge is a joint project of two countries - the Republic of Armenia and Georgia. When designing the bridge, the best international experience was used, and the construction norms and standards of the two countries were combined, which will ensure high quality, high degree of use of this infrastructure for many years,” said the Road Department SNCO. The bridge is equipped with outdoor lighting and drainage system. Construction work should be completed within 12 months, that is, in April 2022, the bridge should be commissioned. The construction of the bridge is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the governments of Armenia and Georgia, and coordinated by Joint Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission. As a reminder, on February 15, 2018, we wrote about the construction of Barekamutyun bridge, for which an international tender was held. 7 organizations participated, 3 of which were shortlisted. As a result, the winner of the international competition was the Iranian construction company Ariana Tunnel Dam Co., which will provide warranty service for another two years after the bridge is put into operation.