The decking offers a beautiful view of the Ghexiang River gorge and the impenetrable jungle of South China. Especially for the lovers of beautiful scenery, there are walking paths on the bridge.

Siduhe Bridge, China: The tallest wide-bay bridge at 496 meters
The Siduhe Bridge was designed at such a high altitude that it had to be built with… rockets. Engineers used to tie kilometers of steel cables to the rockets and then launch them. That’s the only way to throw the cables over the deep ravine over which the bridge spans.

It was commissioned in 2009 and connected in a straight line the two important Chinese megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing. The bridge is 1,222 meters long and has 6 lanes for vehicular traffic. Until 2016 the bridge was the highest in the world, but even now it remains the pride of Hubei province, which is sure to show tourists.

Duge Bridge, China: the highest cable-stayed bridge, 565 m
In 2016 the highest bridge in China, the Duge Bridge, was opened, under which a half-kilometer chasm gapes. It connects China’s southern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, spanning 1,340 meters. The original plan was to place the structure much lower. But the engineers were hindered on both sides by karst caves in the local mountains. The planners had to raise the height of the structure over and over again, and eventually it made it into… the Guinness Book of Records.

It is considered to be the highest cable-stayed bridge on the planet and is second only to the bridge on the Russky Island by the length of the main span (720 m). The bridge is actively visited by tourists. Interestingly, the guidebooks recommend them to take cameras “for aerial photography” – so high is the height of the construction!

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This bridge was the first suspension bridge over the Bosphorus and eventually connected the European and Asian parts of Istanbul.

The suspension bridge over the Bosporus was discussed back in 1950, when Oleg Alexandrovich Kerensky’s design was ready, but construction began only 20 years later, on February 20, 1970. The bridge was inaugurated three years later, on October 29, 1973 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

The German firm Hochtief and the English Cleveland Engineering were engaged in its construction, while the total sum spent on the bridge construction was enormous for that time, $200 million.

According to such spending and technical data of the bridge are quite serious: the total length of the bridge is 1560 (length of the main span – 1074 meters), width – only 33 meters, and the height of the piers reaches 165 meters above the water surface. The roadway is separated from the water by 64 meters.

Pedestrians have not been allowed on the Bosporus Bridge for a long time, of course, because of “fans of suffering and jumping from bridges,” as if a high bridge appears somewhere, immediately there are clouds of suicides… But once a year, as an exception, people are allowed on the bridge – during the October Istanbul Marathon, which participants start in Asia and finish in Europe) During the marathon motor traffic on the bridge is stopped.

Every day 200,000 cars travel across the bridge from continent to continent – a toll, of course.

By the way, if I’m not mistaken, the Bosphorus Bridge is now the 13th longest suspension bridge in the world and one of the largest structures of the 20th century.

In 2006 the Bosphorus Bridge was “renovated” thanks to Philips Lighting, who installed modern LED lighting on it. Unlike the previous lighting, this one consumes 50% less energy and has the ability to produce a variety of colors different from conventional light sources.

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Leading the list of the largest bridges in the world, the Millot Bridge is part of the A75-A71 from Paris to Montpellier. The cost of construction was approximately ?400 million. Construction of the bridge was completed on December 14, 2004. The structure won the IABSE award in 2006 for having the most outstanding structure
tallest bridge in the world

Three world records were broken when the bridge was built:

1 – The tallest piers in the world: 244.96 meters and 221.05 meters high, respectively
MILLO France

2. The tallest tower in the world: The mast on the P2 pier reaches a maximum height of 343 meters.
   4 5

3 – The highest road decking of a road bridge in the world, 270 m. Only the planking of the King’s Bridge in the Colorado Gorge, United States (it is a pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas River, sometimes also used by motor vehicles) is higher at 321 meters and is considered the highest bridge in the world.

The Millo Viaduct with eight spans is supported by seven concrete piers. The highway weighs 36,000 tons and is 2,460 meters long. The bridge is in the shape of a semi-circle with a radius of 20 kilometers. The huge supports were built first, with intermediate temporary supports, to simplify the construction of the deck. The construction of the bridge cost the state about 400 million euros.

The highest bridge in the world took 38 months (just over 3 years) to build. The roadway deck was stretched on both ends, joining the sections one by one, using specialized equipment and gradually moving the bridge sections closer to the piers of the bridge with the help of hydraulics and joining them with the accuracy of millimeters.

Traveling on the bridge costs from 4 to 7 euros depending on the season, the most expensive way is in summer. Every day on the Millo passes from 10 to 25 thousand cars. According to engineers, the minimum service life of the structure will be 120 years. There is also annual work in the form of constant inspections of cable ties, bolts, and the condition of the paint job to keep the bridge in proper condition.

If you calculate how many cars will drive over the bridge in 100 years, you get a figure of 800 million cars. The total toll on the Millo will be more than 4 billion euros.

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The idea of closing off the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge was proposed in early 1872 by railroad entrepreneur Charles Crocker. In 1916 it was brought up again, this time by James Wilkins, publisher of the San Francisco Call Bulletin. As a result, the famous and popular architect of the time, Joseph Strauss, was brought in, declaring that the bridge over the Strait could be built for only $25-30 million.

On June 28, 1921, Strauss submitted preliminary drawings and set the cost of the project at $27 million. The architect was so “fired up” by the idea of building the bridge over the Golden Gate that he launched a large-scale program to convince politicians of the profitability of the project and to find investors. Construction did not begin until January 5, 1933. Joseph Strauss insisted that during construction the participants adhere to the strictest safety measures in the history of bridge construction.

Construction of the bridge dragged on for four years. The architect was actively assisted by the designer Irving Morrow, as evidenced by the plaque with the names of the creators, attached to the south tower of the structure. Incidentally, Charles Alton Ellis did all the mathematical calculations for the bridge, but because of the bad relationship between him and Joseph Strauss, Ellis’ name does not appear in the construction of the bridge and is not inscribed in the plaque of the creators of the bridge.

On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was inaugurated at 6 a.m. (still only for pedestrians – for the first 12 hours). The next day, at President Roosevelt’s signal, the first cars were let onto the bridge. Franklin Roosevelt informed the world of this event by pushing the telegraph key in the White House.

Even before the bridge opened, Irving Morrow wrote a report entitled “The Color and Illumination of the Golden Gate” in which he carefully pointed out the factors most significant to the lighting of the structure. The architect did not like the idea of equal lighting of all elements of the bridge combined with its large size – Morrow suggested that the top of the pylons should be lit less so that they would appear to float outside the lighting. Also, the designer suggested that flashing, flickering, and other types of spectacular lighting would not impair the magnificence of the structure. It should be noted that what Morrow proposed in the beginning was not realized in the construction of the Golden Gate because of a lack of budgetary resources. “Proper” lighting was not applied until half a century later – on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the bridge. In the new lighting, the pylons seem to fade into the evening darkness, which emphasizes their height to an even greater extent.

Incidentally, it was Morrow who insisted that the Golden Gate be painted in vermillion orange, considered the international color. Rejecting black and gray, Morrow chose this color because it harmonized well with its surroundings. Plus, the paint protects the bridge from the salts in the air in fairly high concentrations.

From its opening in 1937 until 1964 the Golden Gate Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge is 1,970 meters long, the main span is 1,280 meters, and the piers are 230 meters high above the water. From the roadway to the surface of the water – 67 meters. The bridge consists of three suspension sections: the two side ones are 350 meters long in total, and the main one stretches for 1400 meters. The Golden Gate Bridge is two and a half times the length of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge!

The bridge was built with a good margin of safety that allowed it to survive several earthquakes, including the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, after which a new project was born to create the most advanced seismic protection the Golden Gate Bridge needed to withstand a major earthquake should its epicenter be dangerously close to the bridge. However, given the series of changes that had to be made to the structure of the bridge, it was far from a secondary goal to preserve the aesthetic and historical integrity of the bridge.

Unfortunately, because the world is full of stupidity, the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most popular suicide sites in the world. On average, every two weeks someone commits suicide here… Today, there are special phones along the span of the bridge that would-be suicides can use to contact a crisis counseling center.

The bridge’s design, brick red color and nighttime fluorescent lighting are a trademark of the United States. No one had ever dared to connect the San Francisco Bay Area, southern Marin County and the Pacific before this grandiose bridge was erected.

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At the time of this writing, Huangzhou was the record holder, but now a new bridge has been built that has taken over the palm and is the longest bridge in the world – it is the Qingdao Bridge, built in 2011.

There is a belief that the Chinese cannot build reliable structures… Perhaps soon, these prejudices will dissipate, thanks to projects such as this bridge. So, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge is built in the shape of an S and is the most important section of the China East Coast Superhighway. The bridge begins in Jiaxing in the north and ends in Ningbo, in the south.

The construction of this structure has shortened the distance of land transport from Ningbo to Shanghai by 120 km, and the travel time has been reduced from four hours to two. The two-way highway contains six lanes, and the speed limit here is 100 km/h. According to the project the bridge is guaranteed to last for 100 years, after which it can easily be reconstructed.

Wang Yong, chief engineer of the Hangzhou Bridge, said the bridge is one of the most important bridges not only in China, but in the world. Not only is it the longest (by sea), but it was also built in the most difficult marine environment – one of the three strongest streams on Earth flows here, typhoons are frequent, and the seabed is extremely heterogeneous. The map shows the location of the bridge:
Hangzhou map

Of the full project cost of CNY11.8bn ($1.42 billion), approximately CNY149m ($18 million) was contributed by 17 area NGOs. Approximately 35% of that amount was raised from private companies in Ningbo; 59% was secured as loans from China’s central and regional banks. The Songcheng Group is the largest nongovernment shareholder in the project, with 17.3% of the equity investment. According to investors, the construction of the new sea crossing bridge over Hangzhou Bay is a sign of China’s growing economic strength, its construction has greatly accelerated economic development in the Yangtze River Delta

According to the governor of Zhejiang, China’s fourth largest economy, “the bridge will help form a more convenient and efficient transportation network in the Yangtze River Delta, allowing each side to develop much closer relations with each other … We believe that the bridge will open many more development opportunities for the area and greatly increase its economic strength and competitive power.”

China Railway Bridge Bureau Group Co. Ltd. was the main contractor for the project . A consulting and maintenance contract was awarded to the well-known Hardesty & Hanover, LLP. Ty Lin International Company is the designer of the bridge. Ben C Gerwick provides shipwreck protection systems for the project. Pictured is the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Bridge

Hangzhouwan Bay is a bay in the East China Sea that is home to one of China’s natural wonders, the Qiantang River, which creates fast water currents and large waves. The area is also prone to frequent typhoons. These factors made the task difficult for the designers; the design and construction plan was completed only after nine years of consultation and more than 120 technical studies involving more than 700 experts around the world.
six lanes of traffic

The cable-stayed bridge design was chosen because it was deemed best to withstand adverse conditions, divergent currents, high waves, and the geological conditions of the site. The bridge was also designed to meet seismic criteria and maintains the integrity of the bridge in an earthquake up to seven on the Richter scale. The 36-kilometer bridge has six lanes, 3.75 meters each, three in each direction. The full width of the bridge will be 33 meters. Designed for 100 years of service, the bridge is 62 meters high, allowing fourth- and fifth-generation container ships to pass under the arches. The total length of the cable used in the project will be 32.2 km.

One of the main problems encountered by the builders of Hangzhou is the release of natural gas in the deep water layers along the bridge line. A special study was conducted to investigate the distribution of the gas and the characteristics of the soil at the time of the gas release. Eventually this problem was solved, and the possibility of damage to the bridge structure was eliminated.

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