Ayunose Bridge
Ayunose Bridge
JapaneseName
Yamato, Kumamoto, Japan
459 feet high / 140 meters high
656 foot span / 200 meter span
1999
A rare and beautiful blend of a cable stayed and beam bridge, the Ayunose crosses a deep gorge several miles (kms) south of the small town of Yamato in southern Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture. The bridge was built as part of an agricultural road that now connects villages that were once remote.
Japan’s famous architect Arata Isozaki was in charge of picking the bridge’s designer and chose Miyoko Ohno. The Japanese bridge engineer described the motivation behind her stylish design. “The tower emphasizes the height of the mountains and the pier - the depth of the valley. The linear shape corresponds to the landscape”.
The most unique half of the bridge is a 3-span prestressed concrete beam supported by an elegant, curvilinear, V-shaped pier. Despite the mix of bridge types, the transition between the two bridge halves is aesthetically invisible. With a road deck crossing 459 feet (140 mtrs) above the Midori River gorge, the bridge engineers knew it would be a photogenic landmark and built lookouts on both sides of the canyon. Opened in August of 1999, the bridge cost 49 million dollars.
Ayunose Bridge satellite image.
