Stonecutter's Bridge
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Stonecutters Bridge is a high level cable-stayed bridge spanning the Rambler Channel in Hong Kong, connecting
Nam Wan Kok Nam Wan Kok () is a cape in the southeast corner of Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. Its coast was reclaimed and became Container Terminal 9. The Nam Wan Tunnel and Stonecutters Bridge meet there. The Chinese name of Nam Wan Kok means the cape of Tai N ...
, Tsing Yi to Stonecutters Island. The bridge deck was completed on 7 April 2009, and opened to traffic on 20 December that year. The bridge was the second-longest cable-stayed span in the world at the time of its completion. The approaches at Tsing Yi and Stonecutters Island are located near
Container Terminal 9 Kwai Tsing Container Terminals is the main port facilities in the reclamation along Rambler Channel between Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. It evolved from four berths of Kwai Chung Container Port () completed in the 1970s. It later ...
and Container Terminal 8, respectively. The bridge is part of Hong Kong's Route 8, connecting Sha Tin, Cheung Sha Wan, Tsing Yi island, Ma Wan and Lantau Island. Other major constructions along the route are Nam Wan Tunnel (completed in 2008), Eagle's Nest Tunnel (completed in 2008), Sha Tin Heights Tunnel (completed in 2008), Tsing Ma Bridge (completed in 1997) and Kap Shui Mun Bridge (completed in 1997). The Stonecutters Bridge won the 2010 ''Supreme Award'' at the annual Structural Awards presented by the Institution of Structural Engineers, United Kingdom.


History

Construction commenced on 27 April 2004 by Maeda-Hitachi-Yokogawa-Hsin Chong JV (a joint venture of Maeda Corporation, Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Yokogawa Bridge Corporation, and Hsin Chong). It cost
HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...
2.76 billion. It was reported to be over budget.


Structure

The bridge spans , with 3 lanes in each direction. It is a cable-stayed bridge with two bridge towers, one on Tsing Yi Island and the other on Stonecutters Island. With a main span of , Stonecutters Bridge has the third-longest cable-stayed span in the world, after the Sutong Bridge and
Bridge to Russky Island The Russky Bridge (russian: Русский мост, ''Russian Bridge'') is a cable-stayed bridge in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. The bridge connects the Russky Island and the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula sections of the city across the E ...
. It was built at a cost of HK$2.76 billion.


Bridge design

The design concept for the bridge was procured by Highways Department in Hong Kong through an international design competition. The winning scheme was the one presented by a group consisting of bridge architect Dissing+Weitling together with engineering firms Halcrow Group,
Flint & Neill Flint & Neill is a firm of consulting civil and structural engineers based in the United Kingdom. Flint & Neill was established as an engineering consultancy in 1958, and specialises mainly in the design, analysis, construction and maintenance of ...
and Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute. The design was selected as the Reference Scheme for the further design development. A group led by Arup with
COWI A/S COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 em ...
as main sub-consultant has carried out the further design development of the Reference Scheme and the detailed design that followed. The concept was for a cable-stayed bridge with a twin aerodynamic deck suspended from two 295m-high single pole towers. These towers have bases measuring 24m x 18m tapering to 7m diameter at the top, and the deck allows a navigation clearance of 73.5m over the full entrance to the Container Port. The two towers are in concrete until level +175m and in composite construction consisting of an inner concrete ring with a stainless steel skin for the top 120m. The original concept had a conventional steel structure above level +175m but Arup found that this configuration would be too lively and lead to unacceptable vibrations of the stay cables. Using a heavier composite section instead of a pure steel structure solved this problem. For reasons of durability and to enhance the appearance, further studies concluded that the tower skin should be fabricated from a duplex stainless steel (grade 1.4462 to BSEN10088) with a shot peened surface finish. The deck itself is made of steel in the main span and of concrete in the side spans. The tower foundations are located within 10m of the seawall on either side of the Rambler Channel, close to the back-up land next to CT8 and CT9. Their proximity to the channel necessitated ship impact testing and modelling. Geotechnical centrifuge testing was conducted using a 1:200 scale model of a vessel bow section and seawall within a container.


Wind studies

The Hong Kong region is susceptible to very strong typhoon winds, a fact that was taken into account in the design of the bridge. In October 2002 a mast was erected at the site to measure the speed, direction and turbulence of winds in the area. Readings, which continued until January 2004, were transmitted in real-time to an offsite location for further analysis. In particular, the stability of the long cantilevers during construction required special consideration in the design.


Walk For Millions

Prior to its formal commissioning, a Community Chest Walk for Millions was held 15 November 2009 to allow the public to walk along Stonecutters Bridge and East Tsing Yi Viaduct and through Nam Wan Tunnel. Over 30,000 participants took part, raising more than HK$10 million for the charity's Children and Youth Services.


In popular media

As a result of the interesting challenges and extreme difficulty in constructing this bridge, the project was featured on two of the
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
's '' Extreme Engineering'' series on 1 November 2006 and 27 April 2009.


See also

* Transport in Hong Kong * Tunnels and bridges in Hong Kong *
List of bridges in China This list of bridges in China includes notable bridges. China has a long history in bridge construction. The oldest bridge still in existence in China is the Anji Bridge, constructed during the years between 595 and 605. During the infrastructu ...


References


External links

*
Stonecutters Bridge
– Arup website {{IStructE Supreme Award laureates Bridges completed in 2009 Bridges in Hong Kong Cable-stayed bridges in Hong Kong Route 8 (Hong Kong) Stonecutters Island Tsing Yi 2009 establishments in Hong Kong