Brilliant 6 Decades Bring 3000 Grand Bridges—To those who have designed and built the most bridges in the world

By Bo Ning,Zhang Jing & Liu Peiya

武汉长江大桥是新中国成立后在长江上修建的第一座公铁两用桥,被称为“万里长江第一桥”。Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge,the first highway-railway bridge over the Yangtze River,is often referred to as the “First Bridge of the Yangtze.”

The total number of road bridges and railway bridges in China has exceeded one million,whose total length now tops the world,making China the world’s No.1 in terms of bridge building.China has been breaking world records in bridge construction almost every year of the past decade.Half or more of the world’s top ten arch bridges,ten girder bridges,ten cable-stayed bridges and ten suspension bridges are made in China.Among China’s bridge-building enterprises,one emerges as an outstanding leader—it is the China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co.,Ltd.(CRMBEG) which was originally established for building China’s first bridge across the Yangtze River.

From the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in the 1950s to the Wuhan Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge to be opened soon,CRMBEG has designed and built more than 3,000 bridges both at home and abroad in the past 60 years,creating many highquality projects to establish itself as a leading corporation in bridge construction and designing in the world.

On August 23,1999,CRMBEG erected a white marble monument with an inscription reading “Declaration of Quality for a Centurylong Bridge” near the pier of the Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge in Central China’s Anhui Province,and solemnly made a commitment,“We regard quality of a bridge as our lifeblood and we will bear responsibility for the bridge’s quality for a lifetime!” and proposed an initiative “To start bridge building competition,by so doing we shall make every bridge a finely crafted project with both beautiful design and high quality construction and envision it as a representation of modern civilization!”

In one attempt,the closure of steel truss girders as heavy as 700 tons are made,and thousands of screw holes are precisely aligned.The margin of error of each high-strength bolt hole is only 0.2 mm.Qualification rates during spot checks for the concrete quality stay at 100 percent.The tools of the trade CRMBEG adopts include the new type 5000 super large rig,the top-of-the-line heavy-duty horizontal arm,the D5200 type upper-slewing tower crane,an oversized 400-ton mast-beam crane,the “Little Swan” 2500-ton carrier-integrated ship,the “Tianyi” 3000-ton carrier-integrated ship,the “Bridge Seagull” 3600-ton floating crane and so on.All the above mentioned miracles and behemoths were just a small part of CRMBEG’s recordbreaking accomplishments.

The group has also pioneered a “bridge hospital” to provide its clients with life-cycle operation management service by setting up a professional bridge health-monitoring cloud computing center.It employs advanced technology,materials and processes to check and reinforce problematic bridges and thus prolong their service life.

For more than 60 years,CRMBEG has grown from an apprentice to a global leading force.The completion of more than 3,000 high quality bridges is a good representation of China’s leading bridge technology.China has now achieved a healthy development pattern between society,environment,and relevant enterprises.So far,all these bridges have withstood the test of time with no quality incidents found within their service life.

The group has built a series of grandeur bridges in the Belt and Road countries as well,which has upgraded local transportation efficiency,boosted people’s livelihoods,and promoted local economic prosperity.By setting up “dream bridges” and friendship bridges between China and other countries,China has made considerable contributions to the cause of bridge building in the world.This issue has selected some representative bridges built by the group to share with our readers.

(Translation: Wang Wen)

中国中铁大桥局参建的港珠澳大桥是世界最长的跨海大桥。Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge,an important section of which was built by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co.,Ltd.,is the world's longest sea-crossing project.

东海大桥East Sea Bridge

建设中的平潭海峡公铁两用大桥The Pingtan Cross-strait Highway-railway Bridge under construction

杭州湾跨海大桥Hangzhou Bay Bridge

厦门集美大桥Xiamen Jimei Bridge

青藏铁路拉萨河特大桥Lhasa River Bridge,a landmark project on Qinghai-Tibet Railway

水柏铁路北盘江大桥 Beipan River Bridge on Liupanshui-Baiguo Railway

郑新黄河大桥Zhengzhou-Xinxiang Yellow River Bridge

澳门西湾大桥Sai Van Bridge,Macao