Expertise in building bridges spans decades

Guangxi constructs the long-span arch bridge, the Guangxi Pingnan Third Bridge. CHINA DAILY

South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has promoted revolutionary development of the construction of long-span arch bridges. Several technological breakthroughs have been made in the past decades, thanks to engineers who are committed to exploration and research in the sector.

Guangxi started to build large and superlarge bridges in 1953 to tackle backward traffic conditions in the region. It constructed dozens of stone-arch bridges, double-curved arch bridges and box-shaped arch bridges over a 35-year period, laying a foundation for the current achievements.

In 1991, the region first participated in the construction of a concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge, the Gaoming Bridge in Foshan, southern China's Guangdong province. The bridge, with a total length of 1,116 meters, is China's first half-through concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge.

Guangxi has since built a series of concrete bridges that have proved highly influential. They include the Pumiao, San'an, Liujing and Namo bridges. Also, using its experience and expertise, the region has undertaken some milestone projects. For example, it built China's first concrete arch bridge with an unequal span steel-frame structure, the Jialingjiang Bridge in Southwest China's Chongqing, in 1999.

Moreover, the region constructed Taipinghu Bridge in Anhui province in 2004 and Bosideng Bridge in Sichuan province in 2009. They were at that time considered the largest arch bridges in Asia and the world respectively. These bridges have helped Guangxi win awards both at home and abroad. These include the Luban Prize, a top construction and engineering award for quality in China; Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize, the country's top civil engineering award; a second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award; and the George S. Richardson Medal, a prize awarded at the annual International Bridge Conference for a single, recent outstanding achievement in bridge engineering.

Last year, the region achieved a world record in the field of long-span arch bridge construction along with the completion of the Guangxi Pingnan Third Bridge.

The world's largest span arch bridge has a total length of 1,035 meters and a main bridge span of 575 meters. Its main structure consumed 15,000 metric tons of steel. It is located 6 kilometers upstream of the Xijiang Bridge in Pingnan county, Guigang city. The bridge, whose construction started in 2018, opened to traffic in late December 2020.

During that time, Guangxi invented six technologies to upgrade the construction of long-span arch bridges worldwide and lead the development trend of the industry, according to the local government.

It has also been granted 37 national invention patents and several State-level and provincial-level honorary titles in its building of the Pingnan Third Bridge.

Featuring many engineering difficulties, a wide research scope and great social value, the bridge has attracted extensive attention since its beginning, local officials said.

In December 2019, the World Conference on Long Span Arch Bridge Construction Technology was held in Guangxi. The construction of the Pingnan Third Bridge was one of the core topics. It attracted hundreds of Chinese and foreign experts and scholars to share related technological innovations.

In the same year, Guangxi was invited to attend the Bridge Development Science and Technology Innovation Conference in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. It is one of the largest and most authoritative conferences in the sector in China. During the event, delegates from the region delivered a report on key construction technologies of the Pingnan Third Bridge, which received high praise from participants.

Today, as China is embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country, it is setting higher requirements for the construction of traffic infrastructure. Guangxi plans to deepen its industrial transformation and upgrading, and pursue higher quality of bridge construction.

The region is now building the Shawei Zuojiang Grand Bridge in Fusui county, Chongzuo city. The bridge, which is designed to be 968.5 meters in length with a half-through main span of 360 meters, will be the world's largest basket-type concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge when complete.

Guangxi builds the Taipinghu Bridge in Anhui province in 2004. CHINA DAILY