We have been having bridges from prehistory. From that tree that someone would use to connect two sides to the majestic Roman bridges, humanity has evolved while doing the bridges he built. The most recent techniques allow us to connect extremes that are separated by tens of kilometers, but talking about bridges is currently looking at China. Not only have the longest maritime bridge, but also the highest in the world.
It is the Bridge of the Grand Canyon of Huajiang and the most surprising thing is not that under it two Eiffel Tower enter one over another, but that it has only taken four years to lift it.
Necessary. The Gran Canyon of Huajiang is located in the province of Guizhou. It is an area that, traditionally, has been isolated from the rest of the area for a reason for weight: more than 90% of the territory is mountainous terrain that hinders communication. For centuries it did not have much importance for the rest of the empire, but China has been raising infrastructure (and also excavating) to demolish those geographical barriers.
Puzzle. The objective of the government is to connect rural areas with urban centers and, in this case, you had to get the Liuzhi-Anlong highway to raffle the mountains to speed up transport times. The only way was through a bridge, and after an analysis period, in 2022 they began the construction of the great bridge.
It was not going to be simple: it should not only be at a considerable height, but to have a length of almost three kilometers. And the problem was not so much to create the suspension bridge, but to raise the necessary materials. To do this, they implemented advanced technologies to raise steel beams by up to 215 tons of weight and, despite the difficulties in the field, the works have gone at a pone rhythm.
All over. That is what usually attracts the attention of these Chinese infrastructure that, despite some exceptions such as skyscrapers abandoned half -building for years, are an example for the rest of the world. The works advance with speed and, if at the beginning of this year we already saw the two towers of 262 and 205 meters on both sides of the bridge, as well as the cables of 9,000 tons each, we now observe that they have already built the section that joins the ends.
The total length of the bridge is 2,890 meters and the main section, which is between the towers, has a length of 1,420 meters that positions it not only as the highest bridge in the world (it is 625 meters from the ground, reaching the end of the towers at 776 meters), but as the longest hanging section built in the mountainous area. The comparison with the height of the Eiffel Tower is interesting, but almost two Empire State Building would also enter.
The technology used in construction is also interesting. For example, when the concrete pour, Guizhou Bridge Group builders devised a system of pipes that pump cold or hot water depending on the outer temperature to ensure that fresh concrete dried in the best possible conditions to avoid cracks. And, to guarantee maintenance, the cables have sensors that measure vibrations or wind intensity to offer reports on the state of the hanging section.
Impact. In January of this year, it was reported that 75% of the project had been completed, but in recent months we have seen how they have advanced so much that it is practically only missing and installing the security elements. The idea is that it opens at some point in June this year and, once open, it will allow you to cross the cannon in just a couple of minutes when before it was something that needed more than an hour.
But beyond all this, the most impressive thing is that they have been able to build an infrastructure in a very complicated place and condense 439,000 m³ of concrete and 49,000 tons of steel in just four years. And the cost? In theory, 280 million dollars that are difficult to estimate whether they will recover by joining rural areas, but as infrastructure and demonstration of strength, the Huajiang Grand Canyon bridge is imposing.
And he will remove the record from the highest bridge to DEGE, also in China.
Images | Xinhua (1, 2)
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