The bridge towers of Pingtang Grand Bridge in Qiannan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture, Guizhou province were finished recently, becoming the highest concrete bridge towers in the world.
The grand bridge is part of the Pingtang-Luodian Expressway and is 2,135 meters long. The three main bridge towers of the grand bridge stand 320 meters, 332 meters and 298 meters tall, respectively, equal to the height of a 100-storey building.
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The No 16 bridge tower is 332 meters tall, the tallest of its kind in the world. [Photo/gog.cn] |
The highest bridge tower, No 16, took over 40,000 cubic meters of concrete and 7,800 tons of steel to make. It surpassed the current highest bridge tower in China, the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge (300.4 meters) tower, to become the highest concrete bridge tower in the world.
The bridge allows speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour and the bridge floor is 24.5 meters wide with four lanes. Restricted by the location of the tunnels at both ends of the bridge, the bridge towers are designed to be high enough to save on costs while also lowering the difficulty of construction.
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The Pingtang Grand Bridge has three bridge towers. [Photo/gog.cn] |
The bridge will be finished by the end of 2019, shortening the travel time between Pingtang county and Luodian county in Qiannan from two and a half hours to around one hour.
The bridge will become a main transportation channel in south Guizhou, improve the living conditions of local residents, promote tourism development, and stimulate economic growth in the area.
The Pingtang-Luodian Expressway has a total investment of 13.27 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) and includes 80 bridges, three of which are grand bridges, and 22 tunnels, one of which exceeds 4460.5 meters in length.
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| The grand bridge will be finished by the end of 2019. [Photo/gog.cn] |
