Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a long highway bridge with a
cable-stayedA cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....
portion across
Hangzhou BayHangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou , is an inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai. The Qiantang River flows into the bay.It lies south of Shanghai, and ends at the city of Hangzhou...
in the eastern coastal region of
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It connects the municipalities of
JiaxingJiaxing is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the north....
and
NingboNingbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
in
ZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province. At 35.673 km (22 mi) in length, Hangzhou Bay Bridge is one of the longest trans-oceanic bridges in the world. Construction of the bridge was completed on June 14, 2007, and an opening ceremony was held on June 26, 2007, to great domestic media fanfare. The bridge was not opened to public use until May 1, 2008, after a considerable period of testing and evaluation. The bridge shortened the highway travel distance between Ningbo and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
from 400 km (249 mi) to 280 km (174 mi) and reduced travel time from 4 to 2.5 hours.
History
The bridge across the Hangzhou Bay was the subject of various feasibility studies for over a decade before the final plans were approved in 2003. An earlier plan placed the bridge further east, closer to the mouth of the bay, which provided an even shorter travel distance between Ningbo and Shanghai. Under this plan, the bridge would begin in the north from
JinshanJinshan District of Shanghai is neighbouring Zhejiang and near Hangzhou Bay. It has a land area of 586.14 km² and a population 536,900 as of 2001....
, a suburb of Shanghai. The government of Shanghai rejected the plan and focused on building the 32.5 km (20 mi)-long
Donghai BridgeDonghai Bridge is one of longest cross-sea bridge in the world. It was completed on December 10, 2005. It has a total length of and connects mainland Shanghai and the offshore Yangshan deep-water port in China. Most of the bridge is a low-level viaduct. There are also cable-stayed sections to...
from Shanghai to its off-shore port at
YangshanYangshan Port , or Yangshan Deep-Water Port , is a deepwater port for container ships in Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai.Built to allow the Port of Shanghai to grow despite shallow waters near the shore, it allows berths with depths of up to 15 metres to be built, and can handle today's largest...
in the mouth of the bay. The Shanghai government sought to feature Yangshan as the chief port on China's east coast and refused to allow a cross-bay bridge to be built on its territory, which would improve access to the
Port of NingboPort of Ningbo is one of the most important and busiest ports in mainland China. It is located on the rich coastal province of Zhejiang. The port is at the crossroad of the north-south shipping route and the important waterway of the Yangtze River...
at
BeilunBeilun District is an international port in Zhejiang province, China, off the easternmost edge of the southern coast of Hangzhou Bay...
. The Zhejiang Provincial Government was forced to build the bridge further to the west on entirely Zhejiang territory. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge connects
CixiCixi is a city within the sub-provincial city of Ningbo located in China's Zhejiang province.- History :The city was captured by British forces in the Battle of Tsekee on 15 March 1842 during the First Opium War...
, a local-level city that is part of Ningbo Municipality, with
HaiyanHaiyan County is a county in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province of China.Its area is 503 km2. Population is 370,000. Postal code: 314300.The county government is located on 118 Zaoyuan Middle Rd, Wuyuan town....
, a county in Jiaxing Municipality. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge has significantly shortened driving distance between Ningbo and the
Yangtze River DeltaThe Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze Delta or YRD, also called Yangzi, or Chang Jiang Delta, Rive Chang Delta Tai Lake Region or the Golden Triangle of the Yangtze, generally comprises the triangular-shaped territory of Wu-speaking Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province of...
region and improved the competitiveness of the Beilun Port.
Challenges
Because of the many difficulties facing such a tremendous build, almost 600 experts spent nearly a decade designing the bridge. Even after nearly a decade of design, studies, and planning, many different challenges were encountered, the first being the challenge of offshore construction. As a solution, several parts of the bridge had to be completed on land and then transported to the area for which they were built. Some components that were constructed using this process were piers, box girders (bridge panels), and even the bridge foundations.
Another construction challenge involved the weather in the region. Wang Yong, chief director of the Hangzhou Bay Trans-Oceanic Bridge Construction Command Post, described the bridge as being built "in the world's most complicated sea environment, with one of the three biggest tides on Earth, the effect of typhoons and the difficult content of the sea soil." Erosion of materials and cracking and bubbling of any concrete components became a large problem. To combat bubbling and eventual holes, engineers used a cloth-covered template over the concrete. This would improve the color and density of the pieces, making them both more aesthetically pleasing and sturdier. To reduce cracking, engineers used low-strength early-stretching technology when constructing box girders. This technology involves casting (molding) the girder, or bridge panel, letting it harden for no more than three days, and then squeezing it before it reaches its full density. This gives the girder more room to stretch after the bridge is constructed, preventing cracks in the concrete over time.
The third major challenge faced by designers and engineers was an area of toxic methane gas that was discovered roughly 50 meters underground below the location of the bridge. No drilling could be completed before the gas pressure was alleviated. To do this, steel pipes measuring 60 cm in diameter were inserted into the ground, slowly releasing the methane six months prior to drilling.
Service centre
A 10,000 square metre service centre called
Land between the Sea and the Sky (
ChineseThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
:
海天一洲,
PinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Hǎitiān Yīzhōu) is built in the middle of the bridge. This centre contains a resting area, a restaurant, a gas station, a hotel, a conference room, and a lookout tower, which serves as a tourist attraction to watch the tide. The service centre is built on an island, which is a platform resting on piers to avoid obstructing the sea current in the bay.
The service centre was slightly damaged in a fire on the March 23, 2010, but opened to tourists on December 19, 2010.
External links
Hangzhou bay bridge website http://www.hangzhoubaybridge.com/bridge.asp