Lugu Lake Bridge

Lugu Lake Bridge
泸沽湖特大桥
Woluohe Bridge
卧罗河特大桥
Changbaixiang, Sichuan, China
1,617 feet high / 493 meters high
5,512 foot span / 1,680 meter span
2026

The longest span high level bridge crossing in the world, the Lugu Lake Bridge is also the largest bridge ever constructed in Sichuan Province and the largest A-frame style suspension bridge ever built. The towers are built with a concrete interior and a steel sheet exterior. The main span of 1,680 meters is supported by two main cables that are just 3 meters apart at the top of the tower. As the cables descend to the deck at mid-span they widen out to more than 25 meters.

Also unique and unprecedented is the use of a U-shaped anchorage tunnel where the main cables will meet each other and intertwine instead of the more conventional separate anchorages. The unstable mountain rock was not reliable to withstand the pull of two conventional plug anchorages. The connected anchorages will always stay locked behind the weight of the mountain even if the rock shifts during settlement or from an earthquake slide.

Norway's Hålogaland Bridge was the previous record holder for this type of A-shaped tower suspension design and was also constructed by the Sichuan Road and Bridge Group.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A5logaland_Bridge

Lugu Lake Bridge is part of the amazing G7611 Xichang to Shangri Expressway that has no less than 3 major suspension bridges that also includes the Yalong Liangshan bridge and the unique Litanghe Bridge with the world's largest towerless suspension span of 696 meters. The expressway eventually goes to the popular Lugu Lake tourist area with a future extension that will eventually go all the way to Shangri-La. The west bridge three-way expressway interchange is completely underground in tunnels.

The deck elevation of Woluo River Bridge is at 2,407 meters with the river level approximately 500 meters lower.

An early design with a more simple A-frame tower.

Lugu Lake Bridge U-shaped anchorage.

The original Woluohe Bridge design with a main span of 1,620 meters supported by towers 320 and 210 meters tall. The design had a configuration of 3x38.35 +1,620 +2x33.4+5x30 meters with a cable span to rise ratio of 1/9.

Lugu Lake Bridge satellite image.

Lugu Lake Bridge location map.