Lali Bridge
Lali Bridge
پل لالی
Lali, Khuzestan, Iran
492 feet high / 150 meters high
840 foot span / 256 meter span
2011
The longest span cable stayed span in Iran, the Lali Bridge carries an old road across the new reservoir formed by the massive new Gatwand Olya Dam. The structure consists of a central span of 256 meters and two side spans of 102 meters for a total length of 460 meters with no approach spans. The two lane deck is 13.5 meters wide. The roadway was briefly 150 meters above the Karun River in early 2011 before the lake began to fill up behind the dam. The river surface went from an elevation of 104 meters to 230 meters at full reservoir. The Karun River has the greatest discharge of any river in Iran and is hence the most important power producing waterway in the country.
The new span is situated 3 kilometers upstream from the original Lali Bridge, a narrow British truss from 1950 that is now submerged deep under the new reservoir.
The cable stayed bridge is Iran's second highest after the West span of the Karun 3 Dam Bridges though all 3 crossings are over deep reservoirs created by the construction of downstream dams.
Image by Mohammad Shams.
Image by A. shiri.
A computer rendering showing the Lali Bridge under a full reservoir.
Image by lali_hajipor.blogspot.com
Image by TTBP consulting engineers.
Image by Iran News Agency.
Image by lali_hajipor.blogspot.com
Image by TTBP consulting engineers.
Image by TTBP consulting engineers.
Image by TTBP consulting engineers.
An Iranian BASE jumper threw himself off the span soon after completion in 2011.
The original British-built Lali Bridge from 1950 that is now under water. Image by Mohammad Shams.
Image by Mohammad Shams.
Image by Reza Hajipour.
A satellite image showing the new Lali Bridge crossing in red and the original 1950 bridge crossing in the upper left. The entire valley is now under a deep lake impounded by the Gatwand Olya Dam 15 kilometers downstream.
Completion of the 182 meter high earthfill Gatwand Dam. Image by Iran News Agency.
The entire region around the Karun and Dez Rivers has grown into a giant collection of huge dams that began with the Dez Dam in 1963 shown in the upper left. Karun Dams 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as well as the Gatwand Dam can be seen from left to right in the center of the map.
The Karun River is Iran's longest and only navigable river at 720 kilometers while the Dez River measures 400 kilometers in length.
