Zongxihe Bridge

Zongxihe Bridge
总溪河特大桥
Weixinzhen, Guizhou, China
866 feet high / 264 meters high
1,181 foot span / 360 meter span
2015

Zongxihe Bridge is one of the world's most impressive highway arches with a height of 264 meters across the great Liuchong River. Like most of China's largest arch spans, Zongxihe is a concrete filled steel tubular bridge where the main ribs are filled with concrete. Once hardened, the concrete solidifies and stiffens the arch, improving the compressive strength of the entire structure. The north-south crossing is one of the highest bridges along the G76 Expressway between Bijie and Liupanshui in Guizhou Province.

The main arch of 360 meters has a span to rise ratio of 5.2 to 1 with the truss measuring 11 meters deep at the foundation to 6 meters deep at the crown. The tubes are filled with C55 self-compacting, micro-expansive concrete. The deck is 24.5 meters wide.

Among all the world's arch spans Zongqihe ranks among the top 20 in height.

Click on the excellent YouTube channel "Chinese Bridge" to see a video of the Zongxihe Bridge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPeT5YRfoUA

Zongxihe Bridge Elevation

桥面仅仅比西弗吉尼亚的新河峡谷大桥低10英尺，总溪河大桥将会成为世界上最引人注目的高速公路拱桥之一。和中国大多数大型公路拱桥一样，总溪河大桥是钢管混凝土结构的（CFST），拱圈和拱肋由钢管构成并灌注混凝土。当混凝土凝固后，就对钢管形成支撑，提高桥梁的强度（混凝土高抗压，钢材高抗拉，两者热胀冷缩率相仿）。这座南北向的桥将成为G76杭瑞高速毕节到六盘水途中最高的桥之一。在世界拱桥高度排名中排第9位，将于2015年开通。

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Concrete will be pumped up into the steel tubes once the arch has been erected. Image by Peter Wu.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by John Filmer.

A typical concrete filled steel tubular arch foundation.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

This gargantuan suspension footbridge was constructed for workers to access both sides of the river gorge. With a main span of 540 meters this is the longest Tibet-style footbridge ever built exceeding the length of even the Brooklyn Bridge. Only the Dimuhe construction footbridge to the south was nearly as large with a main span of 510 meters. They were also the first two footbridges in the world to be higher then 200 meters.