The Tian'e Longtan Bridge () carries the Nantian Expressway over the

Hongshui River The Hongshui River is a major river in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is one of the main rivers in the basin of the Xi River, which in its turn is one of the main tributaries of the Pearl River. Because it flows thr ...

in the

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the ...

in the

People's Republic of 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 Nantian Expressway connects

Nandan County Nandan (, ) is a county of Hechi City, in the northwest of Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South ...

and

Tian'e County Tian'e (; ) is a county of northwestern Guangxi, China, located on the upper reaches of the Hongshui River and bordering Guizhou province to the northwest. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hechi Hechi ( zh, c=河� ...

in the prefecture-level city of

Hechi Hechi ( zh, c=河池) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, bordering Guizhou to the north. The actual inner city itself is referred as Jinchengjiang ( zh, c=金城江). ...

. Opened on 1 February 2024, the motorway bridge crosses the reservoir of the large

Longtan Dam Longtan Dam () is a large roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam on the Hongshui River in Tian'e County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, a tributary of the Xi River and the Pearl River. The dam is high and long; it is the ...

, located 6 km downstream, with two closely spaced structures for the two directions of travel, which are only connected at the foundations and by crossbeams in the arches. Each of the two arches has a span of 600 m. It is now the largest arch bridge in the world, ahead of the previous leader, the

Pingnan Third Bridge The Pingnan Third Bridge (), internationally known as Pingnan Third Bridge, is a road bridge that crosses the Xun River, a section of the Xi River (which later flows into the Pearl River). It is part of the new western bypass of Pingnan in the Gu ...

.''Expansive arch bridge in China's Guangxi opens to traffic''
on en.gxzf.gov.cn The long and wide bridge crosses the deep reservoir at a height of 140 m above the highest water level or 290 m above the original river. Its arches have a skeleton of four parallel steel tubes, which are connected by numerous diagonal and transverse struts like a

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

. These arches were erected using the by supporting them on piers and temporary masts with multiple stays, and individual prefabricated sections were delivered by a

cable crane Blondins (also known as cable crane, funicular crane, cableway) are a type of material ropeway; they were named after the famous tightrope walker Charles Blondin. Description Blondins are a specialized type of material ropeway that incorpora ...

stretched across the reservoir. After the completion of these steel arches, they were encased in formwork and coated with

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 ...

. Piers made of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

stand in front of and on the arches. The deck girders were then erected using the cantilever method from

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...

. Construction work began in January 2020''Work begins on record-breaking concrete arch''
on www.bridgeweb.com and was completed in January 2024.

References

Road bridges in China Arch bridges Buildings and structures in Guangxi Transport in Guangxi Bridges in Asia Bridges completed in 2024

Sources

* * {{cite journal , last=Luo , first=Chao , last2=Zhou , first2=Jianting , last3=Xin , first3=Jingzhou , last4=Fan , first4=Yonghui , last5=Zhou , first5=Yin , last6=Tang , first6=Qizhi , last7=Yang , first7=Jun , title=Large-scale model test on the construction process of a stiff skeleton arch bridge with the span of 600 m , journal=Case Studies in Construction Materials , volume=21 , date=2024 , doi=10.1016/j.cscm.2024.e03783 , doi-access=free , page=e03783