Tieluoping Bridge
Xixi Bridge
西溪大桥
Linquan, Guizhou, China
715 feet high / 218 meters high
1,109 foot span / 338 meter span
2001
The Xixi suspension bridge is one of many high bridges along the incredible Guiyang-Bijie highway in China’s Guizhou Province. The road is best described as a museum of high Chinese bridges that also includes Liuguanghe, the highest beam bridge on earth. This 100 mile (161 km) stretch of 2 lane highway contains another suspension bridge 600 feet (183 mtr) high as well as another concrete beam bridge 600 feet (183 mtr) high and two arches, 380 feet (116 mtr) and 360 feet (110 mtrs) high. Outside of China, there is no other 100 mile (161 km) stretch of highway on earth to have so many high bridges.
The Xixi bridge was one of 4 medium sized suspension bridges that were designed and built in the same time period by the Major Bridge Reconnaissance Design Institute in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The bridges all share common traits including an extremely thin 2 foot (.6 mtr) thick prestressed concrete slab deck and cable suspenders just 16 feet (5 mtrs) apart. Since all 4 bridges were of similar length and in similar gorge settings, it was economical and efficient to design them at the same time. The other 3 include the Beipanjiang 2003, Azhihe and Luojiaohe bridges. All four are among the world’s 60 highest bridges. Luojiaohe is also on the Guiyang-Bijie highway just a few miles (kilometers) west of Xixi bridge.
Xixi is most similar to Azhihe with an elevated side span on the east side of the bridge that leaves the cable anchorages about 100 feet (30 mtrs) below the level of the road deck. The gorge itself is most spectacular on the west side where it drops vertically to the water for nearly its entire 540 foot (165 mtr) height. Interestingly, a recently built dam just downstream of the bridge has created a reservoir below the bridge. Prior to the dam’s construction, the bridge was over 700 feet (213 mtrs) high!
Xixi Bridge Elevation
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
