Humen Pearl River Bridge

Humen Pearl River Bridge

虎门大桥
Coordinates22°47′35″N 113°36′31″E / 22.79306°N 113.60861°E / 22.79306; 113.60861
Carries G9411 Dongguan–Foshan Expressway
CrossesPearl River
LocaleDongguan and Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Characteristics
DesignSuspension bridge
Segmental concrete bridge
Total length3,618 m (11,870 ft)
Longest span888 m (2,913 ft) (suspension)
270 m (890 ft) (segmental)
History
Construction costUS$370 million (segmental)[1]
Opened9 June 1997
Location
Map

The Humen Pearl River Bridge (simplified Chinese: 虎门大桥; traditional Chinese: 虎門大橋; pinyin: Hǔmén Dàqiáo; Jyutping: Fu2mun4 Dai6kiu4) is a bridge over the Humen, Pearl River in Guangdong Province, southern China. It consists of two main spans — a suspension bridge section and a segmental concrete section. It connects the Nansha District of Guangzhou to Humen Town of Dongguan. Completed in 1997, the suspension bridge has a main span of 888 meters, and the segmental concrete section's main span of 237 meters is among the longest such spans in the world.[2] It forms part of the G9411 Dongguan–Foshan Expressway.[3] A newer bridge known as Nansha Bridge (Chinese: 南沙大桥), built to reduce the traffic problems on the Humen Bridge, opened to traffic in April 2019.[4][5]

Features

The bridge is divided into five sections: the east approach, the suspension bridge section, the middle approach, the segmental concrete section, and the west approach. Hurricanes are common occurrences, so the design wind speed at the bridge deck level was established at 61 m/s.

Incidents

On May 5, 2020, the bridge was caught on camera violently shaking up and down. At 15:32 local time, the bridge was shut down by traffic police for safety reasons. According to Chinese state-run media, engineers inspected the main structure of the bridge, and it was found to be intact. Experts told Chinese media that the shaking was normal, and would not affect the safety of driving if the shaking was contained to a tolerable range.[6] At 16:30 on May 7, the navigable waters of the bridge resumed navigation. On May 10, the bridge passed the structural safety assessment.[7] On May 15, the bridge resumed traffic, but buses with more than 40 seats and trucks were prohibited from passing.[8]

  • Humen Bridge and Weiyuan Fort in the foreground
    Humen Bridge and Weiyuan Fort in the foreground
  • View from the deck of the Humen Pearl River Bridge
    View from the deck of the Humen Pearl River Bridge

See also

References

  1. ^ "Construction Facts - The Sourcebook of Statistics, Records and Resources" (PDF), Engineering News Record, vol. 251, Number 20a, McGraw Hill, November 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2014, retrieved 9 August 2014
  2. ^ "虎门大桥-港珠澳大桥管理局". Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  3. ^ "虎门大桥". Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  4. ^ "虎门二桥完成主桥基础建设 将转入下部结构施工(图)". Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  5. ^ ""珠江第一桥"虎门二桥东莞段下月终于动工". Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  6. ^ Chang, Eric (6 May 2020). "China's Humen Bridge shakes wildly due to high winds". Taiwan News. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  7. ^ 裴剑飞 (2020-05-12). "虎门大桥悬索桥已通过结构安全评估". 新京报网 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  8. ^ 經濟日報. "虎門大橋恢復通車 專家稱結構安全卻禁行大車 | 兩岸焦點 | 兩岸" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
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