The world's longest single-span suspension bridge passes the test

The Luzhijiang Bridge in Yunnan Province, southwestern China, passes an impressive load test. During an eight-day test that began on July 11, trucks carrying goods weighing up to 1,280 tons were constantly moving back and forth on the bridge, according to Science and Technology Daily.

A suspension bridge in southwestern China passed a load test on July 18.

With a length of about 800m, Luzhijiang set a record as the world's longest single-span suspension bridge, which is estimated to reduce the travel time between Yuxi and Chuxiong cities from 1.5 hours to only 2 minutes. The work that holds the old record for the longest single-span suspension bridge is the Jinshajiang Hutiaoxia Bridge on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway in western China, 766m long.

The Luzhijiang Bridge is part of a new 200km highway through Yunnan aimed at enhancing connectivity with Southeast Asian countries. The route is a project of the Belt and Road Initiative, China's plan to promote regional connectivity and economic integration with more than 140 countries.

The bridge has only one support tower, spanning a deep valley with cliffs 300 meters above the ground. The engineering team in charge of the project said that the cliffs are prone to landslides and other geological risks.

After considering several proposals, the team chose the most challenging option with a single span of 780m. At the start of construction in 2019, engineers were given a three-year term. Overcoming Covid-19 and many times of blockade, they still completed the project on time with the help of robots.

Each super-long steel cable must be pinned deep into the mountain with an anchor. To place the giant anchor, engineers drilled a tunnel more than 100 meters long into the cliff. Drilling such tunnels in such a difficult environment often requires a large number of workers with many years of work.

However, the tunneling time is reduced to only about 4 months thanks to intelligent machines with the ability to work almost without humans, the project team of China Railway Bridge Engineering Group shared in World magazine. Bridge in March. These deep tunnels also help the cable rise at a 54-degree angle, providing additional strength to the bridge.