Aizhai Bridge
| Aizhai Bridge 矮寨大桥 | |
|---|---|
 Aizhai Bridge under construction in August 2011 | |
| Coordinates | 28°19′52″N 109°35′51″E / 28.331°N 109.5974°ECoordinates: 28°19′52″N 109°35′51″E / 28.331°N 109.5974°E |
| Carries |
4 lanes of  G65 Baotou–Maoming Expressway |
| Crosses | Dehang Grand Canyon (德夯大峡谷) |
| Locale | Jishou |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 1,534 m (5,033 ft) |
| Width | 24.5 m (80 ft)[1] |
| Longest span | 1,176 m (3,858 ft)[1] |
| Clearance below | 336 m (1,102 ft) |
| History | |
| Construction begin | October 2007 |
| Construction end | December 2011 |
| Opened | 31 March 2012 |
  Aizhai Bridge Location in Hunan | |
The Aizhai Bridge (Chinese: 矮寨大桥) is a suspension bridge on the G65 Baotou–Maoming Expressway near Jishou, Hunan, China. The bridge was built as part of an expressway from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Changsha.[2]
With a main span of 1,146 metres (3,760 ft) and a deck height of 336 metres (1,102 ft),[3] as of 2013, it is the seventh-highest bridge in the world and the world's fifteenth-longest suspension bridge. Of the world's 400 or so highest bridges, none has a main span as long as Aizhai.[4] It is also the world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge.[5] The bridge contains 1888 lights to increase visibility at night.[6]
Construction on the Aizhai Bridge began in October 2007 and was completed by the end of 2011, ahead of schedule.[7][8] The bridge was temporarily opened to pedestrians during the 2012 Spring Festival[8] and was formally opened to traffic in March 2012.[9]
The bridge was built with the assistance of a $208 million loan from the Asian Development Bank; the total project cost was $610 million, which included 64 kilometres (40 mi) of expressway construction (two thirds of which comprised bridge and tunnel) and upgrades to 129 kilometres (80 mi) of local roads.[10] The bridge and the associated road construction were projected to reduce the travel time between Jishou and Chadong from 4 hours to less than 1 hour.[10][11]
In September 2012, the Aizhai Bridge was the site of an international BASE jumping festival that included more than 40 jumpers from 13 countries.[12][13][14]
See also
References
- 1 2 湘西：矮寨大桥主体工程即将完工
- ↑ The bridge that suspends belief | Photo Gallery - Yahoo! News
- ↑ Hunan Government
- ↑ Sakowski, Eric Sakowski (2009). "Aizhai Bridge from highestbridges.com". http://highestbridges.com/. Retrieved 9 March 2012. External link in
|publisher=(help) - ↑ "China (News),Road transport (News),World news". The Guardian. London. 2 April 2012.
- ↑ "China opens record-breaking bridge over canyon". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 March 2012.
- ↑ 吉首矮寨悬索大桥达到通车标准（组图）
- 1 2 湖南：矮寨大桥竣工成为湘西一景 春节开放每天万人参观（图）_中国公路网
- ↑ 湖南：吉茶高速矮寨大桥3月通车_中国公路网
- 1 2 http://www.adb.org/Documents/RRPs/PRC/37494-PRC-RRP.pdf
- ↑ Yinbo Liu (May 2013), The Construction of a 1,176 Meter Long Aizhai Suspension Bridge (PDF), 26th ICTPA Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL, retrieved 10 August 2014
- ↑ 17 Sep 2012 (2012-09-17). "Video: Daredevils take part in Chinese base jumping festival". Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ↑ "2012 Aizhai Bridge International BASE Jump Festival takes fl". YouTube. 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ↑ "Aizhai Bridge Jumping Festival, Aizhai China". Suz Graham. 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
External links
-
Media related to Aizhai Bridge at Wikimedia Commons - Aizhai Bridge on HighestBridges.com
- Aizhai Suspension Bridge at Structurae
- Video from The Telegraph including aerial views of the Aizhai Bridge