The Sutong Yangtze Bridge (; , ) is a
cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...
that spans the
Yangtze
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 ...
in China between
Nantong
Nantong is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north; Taizhou to the west; Suzhou, Wux ...
and
Changshu
Changshu (; Suzhounese: /d͡ʐan¹³ ʐoʔ²³/) is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and is part of the Yangtze River Delta. It borders the prefecture-level city of Nantong to the northeast across the Yangt ...
, a satellite city of
Suzhou
Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.
Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
, in
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 ...
province.
Design and construction
The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge was designed by Dr. Robin Sham,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
,
FICE, a Hong Kong-born and British-based structural engineer who specializes in bridges. With a span of , it was the cable-stayed bridge with
the longest main span in the world from 2008 to 2012. Its two side spans are each, and there are also four small cable spans. The bridge received the 2010 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award (OCEA) from the
American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...
.
Two towers of the bridge are high and thus the fifth tallest in the world. The total bridge length is . Construction began in June 2003, and the bridge was linked up in June 2007. The bridge was opened to traffic on 25 May 2008 and was officially opened on 30 June 2008. Construction has been estimated to cost about US$1.7 billion.
The completion of the bridge shortens the commute between Shanghai and Nantong, previously a four-hour ferry ride, to about an hour.
It brings Nantong one step closer to becoming an important part of the
Yangtze Delta
The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD), once known as the Shanghai Economic Zone, is a megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese, Wu-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, southern Anhui. The area lie ...
economic zone, and has further attracted foreign investors into the city. The bridge is also pivotal in the development of poorer northern Jiangsu regions.
The tower is an inverted Y-shaped reinforced concrete structure with one connecting girder between tower legs. The bridge deck is a steel box girder with internal transverse and longitudinal diaphragms and fairing noses at both sides of the bridge deck. The total width of the bridge deck is 41 metres including the fairing noses.
The construction of Zhaodian-Huangdu Section of Nantong-Shanghai Railway was commenced in March 2014. Following the completion of subgrade, bridges, mainline track-laying, and “communication, signal, power and electrification” works, the integrated commissioning and test began on 20 April 2020.
Gallery
Image:Sutong Bridge-2.jpg, Sutong Yangtze River Bridge
Image:On the Sutong Bridge 2.jpg, Road surface on the bridge.
Image:Sutong South Bridge.JPG, South bridge
Image: Sutong Bridge under Construction (main structure finished), China.jpg, Bridge under construction in 2007.
See also
*
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 infrastructur ...
*
Yangtze River bridges and tunnels
The bridges and tunnels across the Yangtze River carry rail and road traffic across China's longest and largest List of rivers of China, river and form a vital part of the Transport in China, country's transportation infrastructure. The river bi ...
*
List of tallest bridges in the world
This list of tallest bridges includes bridges with a structural height of at least . The of a bridge is the maximum vertical distance from the uppermost part of a bridge, such as the top of a bridge tower, to the lowermost exposed part of the br ...
References
External links
AECOM TransportationOfficial website
Retrieved 2009-12-11.
Roadtraffic Technologyvirtualreview.org
{{Authority control
Road bridges in China
Bridges over the Yangtze River
Cable-stayed bridges in China
Bridges completed in 2008
Bridges in Jiangsu
Bridges in Suzhou
2008 in Shanghai