Zhongxian Changjiang Bridge
Zhongxian Changjiang Bridge
忠县长江大桥
Zhongxian, Chongqing, China
(440) feet high / 134 meters high
1,509 foot span / 460 meter span
2010
A major link in the new highway that goes from Yichang to Xhongxian and then to the city of Chongqing, this new cable stayed crossing has the unique distinction of having the highest deck height of any bridge ever built over the Yangtze River if measured to the full level of the 3 Gorges reservoir. Even the 3 great Yangtze River arches - Chaotianmen, Wanxian and Wushan - are all a few meters short of the 276 foot (84 mtr) deck to water distance beneath the Zhongxian Changjiang bridge. The river is unusually wide at the crossing and required a large prestressed beam span of 200 meters in addition to the usual 3-span cable stayed configuration. The name Chang Jiang is the Chinese name for the Yangtze River which is good as it differentiates this bridge from the nearby Zhongxian Yangtze River bridge - a suspension span from 2001 located just downstream from the new cable stayed bridge.
The above construction photo was taken before the reservoir reached its full level with the deck somewhere around 350 feet (107 mtrs) high.
作为新建的从宜昌到忠县、再到重庆市区的高速公路上的一个关键工程，这座新建的斜拉桥有一个特别之处，如果测量桥面距离现在的三峡满水位时的高度，它将是所有库区的长江大桥之最高。甚至另外三座更大的长江大桥——朝天门，万县，巫山长江大桥——都比忠县长江大桥的84米高于水面的落差要少一些。大桥所跨越的河床断面如此之宽，所以，在共有三跨的斜拉桥主桥之外还有设置一个很大的200米跨径的预应力梁桥。Chang Jiang是长江在中文拼音里的发音，这就很方便的将这座公路大桥与附近的忠县长江大桥区分开来了——一座2001年建成的悬索桥，就在该斜拉桥下游不远处。
下面的施工照片是在库区水位到达最高时之前拍摄的，桥面大概有107米高。
Image by Georges.
Image by Georges.
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
