20th March, 2022
China is set to open the world’s first single-tower, single-span suspension bridge in Yunnan province by late April 2022.
The bridge links neighbouring Yuxi City and Yunnan’s Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture and will dramatically shorten the journey time.
The maximum speed limit on the bridge is 100 kilometers per hour.
With construction commencing in 2019, the project took about three years to complete.
Stretching 798 meters over a river valley, Lvzhijiang Bridge’s mere length may not sound all that extreme when compared to some of the world’s longest bridges.
But the complexity of the project is earning it recognition as an engineering marvel.
The bridge hangs above Lvzhijiang (literally translated as “Green Juice River”) and protrudes from tunnels that emerge from steep mountain faces on each side of the valley.
Officials claim the bridge breaks several world records.
Built in a mountainous V-shaped valley, it is the world’s first single-tower, single-span suspension bridge; it’s only held up by one tower and is supported at both ends by cables. There are no additional columns, giving it a dramatic, gravity-defying look.
The bridge’s single span — the distance between two supports — is 780 meters. In addition, officials say it has the world’s steepest tunnel anchorage, which is angled at 54 degrees.
Due to the area’s rugged landscape, all of the main supporting elements — the 156-meter-high tower, the bridge approach slab on one end of the structure and the tunnel anchorage on the other end of the structure — are built upon steep slopes.
The project manager told Chinese state media that “the height difference between the bridge deck and the assembly yard is 320 meters high, or about 100 stories high … the complexity of this project is rarely seen in China.”
Read the original in CNN