The World's Longest Bridge - Quindao Haiwan Bridge

The World's Longest Bridge - Quindao Haiwan Bridge

Introduction

The construction and inauguration of the world's largest infrastructure reflects the growing emergence and economic prowess of the Chinese nation on the world map. It should be noted that the Chinese nation is already holding the record of building seven out of ten of the world's longest bridges in the world. The Beijing is investing immensely in the architectural development of the nation and experts predict that the Chinese nation will itself break the record of the world's longest bridge, which is currently occupied by Quindao Haiwan Bridge.

Discussion

The Qingdao Haiwan Bay Bridge, also known as the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge connects three distinct areas of China, the Shandong province, Qingdoa city, and Huangdao district. With a total length of 41.58 km or 26.4 miles, the Qingdao Haiwan Bay Bridge is the longest cross-sea bridge, longer than the former record holder of Hangzhou Bay Bridge. The construction of Jiaozhou Bay Bridge was commenced during the late 2007 and the project was completed on December 22, 2010 with a total investment of 14.792 billion Yuan. However, the architectural mammoth was inaugurated on June 30, 2011 for the public. Simultaneously, the undersea route - Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Tunnel, with a total length of 9.47 km was opened to traffic on the same day (Zanasi 2006).

This project is funded by Shandong Expressway Investment Management Company - China's largest investment by a single enterprise in a state - owned transportation infrastructure projects.

The construction of the project encompassed nearly 45 million tons of steel, 2.3 million cubic meters of prestressed concrete, and employed approximately 10,000 individuals.

The sheer structural scale of the project shows the technical expertise and prowess of the Chinese engineers and explains the fading reliance and dependence on Western expertise for engineering projects. The six lane bridge is supported by 5,200 columns and by standard beams, which are 12 m long, 47 meters wide and 3.6 meters high. The bridge is predicted to facilitate the transportation of nearly 30,000 cars a day. Chinese experts also boast that the bridge is able to withstand a typhoon or earthquake with a magnitude of eight Riechtor scale. The bridge is designed by Shandong Gausu Group and is able to last for the next 100 years (Rausch 1988).

Self-anchored suspension

The Qingdao Haiwan Bay Bridge or Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is a cable - stayed and self - anchored suspension bridge. The suspension bridge refers to a set of suspension which is supported through pylon and anchor on both the two sides. The suspension of the modern suspension bridge is generally supported on the two towers. The top of the tower has a saddle - shaped bearing suspension (Macaulay 2000).

The impact of Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

Qingdao Bay Bridge will not only help to improve things across the sea, the bridge primarily reduces the temporal and spatial distance between Qingdao and Huangdao districts of China. The bridge will play an important role in promoting the development of Qingdao Economic and Jiaozhou ...