The Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge ( zh, s=江阴长江大桥) is a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

over the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The bridge has a main span of connects

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. It is administered by the Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is an important transport hub on the Yangtze River and one of the most developed counties ...

south of the river to Jingjiang to the north. When the bridge was completed in 1999, it was the fourth longest suspension bridge span in the world and the longest in China. Several longer bridges have since been completed in China and abroad, and it is currently the 15th longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge was also the furthest downstream on the Yangtze until the completion of the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge in 2008 and the Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge in 2011.

Locale

Located in the centre of the

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu is a coastal province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the third smallest, but the fifth most populous, with a population of 84. ...

, the bridge carries

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

on the G2 Beijing-Shanghai Expressway. There are three lanes in both directions and pedestrian sidewalks. The location was selected due to the narrow width of the river at the bridge. The height clearance for river navigation is .

History

The bridge was planned so that it would be completed in time to mark the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution of 1947. It was the first long-span bridge of its kind to be designed in China. Foundation work began in 1994.

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

and

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

of the bridge was completed in just less than three years. The

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

towers are tall, roughly equivalent in height to a 60 story building. The main span, constructed by

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a British bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. It built various structures including the Victoria Falls Bridge, Tees Transporter Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, Forth Road, Hum ...

, is made of flat streamlined

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

box girders. The steel deck was erected by raising pre-assembled units weighing up to 500 metric tons with jacks.
pictures
The total investment of the bridge adds up to 2.728 billion yuan. The bridge opened on September 28, 1999.

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

entitled the bridge and cut the ribbon. Goodwin Steel Castings manufactured the cable bands for the bridge. In 2002 the bridge received an award at the International Bridge Conference for "...outstanding achievement in bridge engineering that, through vision and innovation, provides an icon to the community for which it was designed."Bridge Awards

References

External links

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Information on the bridge from the contractor that built it
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Photos and locations from Google Earth
{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Jiangyin Suspension Bridge , bridge signs = China Expwy G2 sign no name

, upstream = Taizhou Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Sutong Bridge , downstream signs = China Expwy G15 sign no name

Bridges over the Yangtze River Suspension bridges in China Bridges completed in 1999 1999 establishments in China 1997 in Wuxi

Locale

History

See also

References

External links