China Builds World’s Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge

The world’s longest cable-stayed bridge now resides in China after the opening on the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge.

The structure measures 6.4 miles with a main span of 3,963 feet. Its towers are 1,148 feet tall — equaling a 120-story building.

Located in the Jiangsu Province in eastern China, the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge connects the cities of Changzhou and Taizhou. The new passage reduces travel time across the Yangtze River from over an hour to around 20 minutes.

It is the first bridge on the Yangtze River to integrate an expressway, a local road and an intercity railway onto a single structure. Trains can run at speeds of up to 124 miles per hour on the bridge.

The bridge foundations were designed to withstand the powerful currents of the Yangtze River, while flexible joints were included to allow movement in response to temperature changes. Construction lasted six years and set multiple word records.

The project “achieved the fastest sinking speed for large caissons in silty clay layers, developed the world’s first intelligent tower crane with a lifting capacity exceeding 10,000 tonne-meters, and advanced industrialized construction of steel-concrete composite pylons,” according to China Communications Construction.

The company also said that the bridge team made “the world’s largest-tonnage deck crane, enabling millimeter-level precision in placing ultra-heavy segments.”

The Changtai Yangtze River Bridge is also the world’s longest-span steel truss arch bridge that combines car and rail traffic, as well as the longest continuous system of steel truss girders.

The structure is part of a larger plan to increase China’s bridge network on the Yangtze River. The goal is to have 240 structures by 2035, with over 150 already built.

Before the bridge’s completion, the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge was the Russky Bridge in Vladivostok, Russia. It is 1.9 miles long and has a main span of 3,622 feet.

Sources: Kazinform International News Agency, Heise, Travel and Tour World