China's highway, high-speed railway bridges reach new high

WUHAN - China has built more than 800,000 highway bridges, and over 10,000 km of high-speed railway bridges, state transport authorities said Sunday.

There were 805,300 highway bridges across China at the end of 2016, Zhou Wei, chief engineer from the Ministry of Transport, said at an international bridge expo being held in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.

Of the world's top 10 cable-stayed, suspension, arch and beam bridges with the longest main spans, seven, six, six and five are in China respectively, according to Zhou.

China had completed 22,000 km of high-speed railway lines as of last year, and bridges accounted for over 50 percent of that length, said Yan Hexiang, director of the technology and law division of the National Railway Administration.

The total length of China's high-speed rail will reach 38,000 km by 2025, and 45,000 km by 2030, he said.

There are also 135 bridges crossing the main course of the Yangtze River, the world's third and Asia's longest river, 32 of which are under construction, said Liu Ziming, president of China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group.