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Sakowski: /* High Bridge History */

2019-03-02T10:35:41Z

High Bridge History

Sakowski: /* High Bridge History */

2019-03-02T10:34:21Z

High Bridge History

Sakowski: /* High Bridge History */

2019-03-02T10:28:06Z

High Bridge History

Sakowski: /* Introduction */

2016-02-21T02:39:55Z

Introduction

Sakowski: /* Reservoir Bridges */

2016-02-21T02:31:25Z

Reservoir Bridges

Sakowski: /* High Bridge History */

2016-02-21T02:25:53Z

High Bridge History

Sakowski: /* High Bridge History */

2016-02-21T02:17:31Z

High Bridge History

Sakowski: /* Introduction */

2016-02-21T02:16:01Z

Introduction

Sakowski at 02:09, 21 February 2016

2016-02-21T02:09:31Z

Sakowski at 02:06, 21 February 2016

2016-02-21T02:06:56Z

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 Beipanjiang Duge Bridge is the latest of just 14 bridges in history to hold the title of “World’s Highest”.  The first was the famous Pont Du Gard stone aqueduct located near Nimes, France.  Completed around 90 B.C., the Roman structure has three levels of stacked arches that reach a height of 160 feet (49 meters).  More than 200 years passed before the Puente Alcántara became the new record holder with 5 semicircular arches that cross 164 feet (50 meters) above the Tajo river west of Caceres, Spain.  Italy’s massive Ponte Delle Torri in Spoleto surpassed the Spanish bridge with a height of 269 feet (82 meters) though the exact completion date of the aqueduct is unknown but probably dates to the 13th or 14th century.
-China's Tiesuo chain bridge took the crown in 1704 AD during the Wanli era in Hubei Province and remained the world's highest bridge for almost a century until 1793 when the Puente Nueveo Bridge was completed in Ronda, Spain. Reportedly 322 foot (98 meter) high, the Puente Nuevo or New Ronda bridge has become a huge tourist attraction.  It would be the last time a stone or masonry arch bridge would hold the height record.
+China's 279 foot (85 meters) high Tiesuo chain bridge took the crown in 1704 AD during the Wanli era in Hubei Province and remained the world's highest bridge for almost a century until 1793 when the Puente Nueveo Bridge was completed in Ronda, Spain. Reportedly 322 foot (98 meter) high, the Puente Nuevo or New Ronda bridge has become a huge tourist attraction.  It would be the last time a stone or masonry arch bridge would hold the height record.
 [[File:PontDuGardBobCortright.JPG|200px|left|thumb|Pont Du Gard Aqueduct in France]]

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 The Royal Gorge bridge reigned supreme for 72 years until 2001 when the highest bridge title moved to Western China, a place where the record is likely to remain for some time.  Located northwest of the city of Guiyang in the province of Guizhou is the Liuguanghe bridge, a 975 foot (297 meter) high prestressed concrete beam bridge that became the first of 4 successive Chinese bridges to hold the title of World’s Highest Bridge.  Liuguanghe would also be the only record breaking high bridge in history that was not a suspension or stone arch structure.  After just 2 years, the crown was bestowed on yet another crossing in Guizhou province, the Beipanjiang Guanxing bridge, a two lane suspension span that soars 1,200 feet (366 meters) above the Beipanjiang River.  Siduhe came along in 2009 with a height of 1,627 feet (496 meters) before the Beipanjiang Duge Bridge took the record to new heights in 2016 with a deck to water drop of 1,854 feet (565 meters).
-[[File:ChateletPon4Jacques Gré copy.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Pont Chatelet in France]]
+[[File:8ChateletPon4Jacques Gre.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Pont Chatelet in France]]
 In 2005, an unusual pipeline suspension bridge in Papua New Guinea briefly became the 10th bridge in history to hold the height record at 1,289 feet (393 meters) before the record returned to China in 2009 with the opening of the Siduhe bridge.

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 =High Bridge History=
 [[File:SiduheBridge.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Siduhe Bridge in Hubei, China - The world's highest from 2009 - 2016]]
-Beipanjiang Duge Bridge is the latest of just 12 bridges in history to hold the title of “World’s Highest”.  The first was the famous Pont Du Gard stone aqueduct located near Nimes, France.  Completed around 90 B.C., the Roman structure has three levels of stacked arches that reach a height of 160 feet (49 meters).  More than 200 years passed before the Puente Alcántara became the new record holder with 5 semicircular arches that cross 164 feet (50 meters) above the Tajo river west of Caceres, Spain.  Italy’s massive Ponte Delle Torri in Spoleto surpassed the Spanish bridge with a height of 269 feet (82 meters) though the exact completion date of the aqueduct is unknown but probably dates to the 13th or 14th century.  Spain would take the title back several hundred years later when the 322 foot (98 meter) high Puente Nuevo or New Ronda bridge opened across a deep chasm in Ronda, Spain.  It would be the last time a stone or masonry arch bridge would hold the height record.
+Beipanjiang Duge Bridge is the latest of just 14 bridges in history to hold the title of “World’s Highest”.  The first was the famous Pont Du Gard stone aqueduct located near Nimes, France.  Completed around 90 B.C., the Roman structure has three levels of stacked arches that reach a height of 160 feet (49 meters).  More than 200 years passed before the Puente Alcántara became the new record holder with 5 semicircular arches that cross 164 feet (50 meters) above the Tajo river west of Caceres, Spain.  Italy’s massive Ponte Delle Torri in Spoleto surpassed the Spanish bridge with a height of 269 feet (82 meters) though the exact completion date of the aqueduct is unknown but probably dates to the 13th or 14th century.
 [[File:PontDuGardBobCortright.JPG|200px|left|thumb|Pont Du Gard Aqueduct in France]]

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 After China, the country with the greatest number of high bridges is Italy.  For a region that is only the size of the U.S. state of California, it is simply amazing how many towering viaducts or viadottos are spread out among Italy’s expansive array of Autostrada.  Built mostly in the 1970s and 80s, this web of bridge-filled motorways includes the A3, A10, A12, A15, and A26.  The most recent addition to this family is the breathtaking A20 motorway that opened in 2004 on the island of Sicily between Palermo and Messina.  Perched hundreds of feet above the Mediterranean coast, this 4-lane marvel crosses dozens of colossal beam bridges that are nearly always wedged between two large tunnels.  Italy is also home to 6 of the 10 highest bridge piers in Europe.
-[[File:BeipanjiangByChen7224255.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Beipanjiang 2003 Bridge, Guizhou, China - The world's highest from 2003 - 2005]]
+[[File:BeipanjiangByChen7224255.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Beipanjiang Guanxing Bridge, Guizhou, China - The world's highest from 2003 - 2005]]
 Japan ranks 3rd among the world’s high bridge countries despite having only two entries on the list of the world’s 100 highest.  This is possible because Japan is rich with bridges in the lower height range of 300 feet (90 meters) to 500 feet (150 meters).  After Japan, the United States would rank 4th followed by France, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.  Beyond these 10 countries, few others have more than two or three bridges above 300 feet (90 meters) except for Canada, Algeria and South Africa.

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 Ironically, the highest bridge ever built to cross a reservoir, never ended up crossing one!  In the early 1970s, foundation work began on the 685 foot (209 meter) high Auburn dam east of Sacramento, California on the East Fork of the American River.  Due to the huge reservoir that was expected to form behind it, engineers decided to reroute traffic across a tall bridge over the lake’s wide North Fork that would be called the Auburn-Foresthill bridge.  After 3 years of construction, the huge cantilever span finally opened in May of 1973 with two of the tallest piers that had ever been built for a bridge.  The dam’s construction, however, was permanently halted due to a series of unforeseen seismic studies, excessive cost overruns and other political and environmental concerns.  While the bridge has become very useful to the small mountain communities in and around Foresthill, it ultimately would never have been financed without the planned reservoir.  Visit the Auburn-Foresthill entry on this web site to see an even more amazing cable stayed bridge that was almost built upstream of the existing bridge.  To find out current reservoir water levels in North America, please visit http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/  For California reservoir levels visit http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reservoir.html and click on “Information on Reservoirs” then pick your lake / reservoir and click on “Reservoir Elevation, feet”.
-The huge effect a single dam and reservoir can have on bridge construction reached epic proportions in the late 1990s when China began construction on the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River.  Located in the mountainous Hubei Province of Western China, this 575 foot (175 meter) high dam created a man-made lake nearly 375 miles (600 kilometers) long, necessitating the relocation and reconstruction of entire cities along with more than 50 major new bridges.  Of these, more than a dozen have spans of over 1,000 feet (300 meters) including the longest concrete and steel arch spans in the world.  The Badong, Wushan, Jiuwanxi and Tangxihe bridges are all among the 10 highest reservoir bridges in the world, exceeding 500 feet (153 meters) from the height of the road deck to the old level of the Yangtze River.
+The huge effect a single dam and reservoir can have on bridge construction reached epic proportions in the late 1990s when China began construction on the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River.  Located in the mountainous Hubei Province of Western China, this 575 foot (175 meter) high dam created a man-made lake nearly 375 miles (600 kilometers) long, necessitating the relocation and reconstruction of entire cities along with more than 50 major new bridges.  Of these, more than a dozen have spans of over 1,000 feet (300 meters) including the longest concrete and steel arch spans in the world.  The Xiangxi, Xiangxihe, Badong, Wushan, Jiuwanxi and Tangxihe bridges are all among the 10 highest reservoir bridges in the world, exceeding 500 feet (153 meters) from the height of the road deck to the old level of the Yangtze River.
 [[File:EricAuburnBridge2.jpg|200px|left|thumb|HighestBridges creator Eric Sakowski hanging around California's Auburn-Foresthill Bridge]]

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 [[File:PontDuGardBobCortright.JPG|200px|left|thumb|Pont Du Gard Aqueduct in France]]
-By the early 1800s, suspension bridges were becoming the bridge of choice for spans of more than 200 feet (60 meters).  So in 1839, French engineer E. Belin had no choice but to cross the 482 foot (147 meter) deep chasm of the Usses river with a suspension bridge in the mountainous Rhône-Alpes region of France.  Named after Charles-Albert, the king of Piedmont, the 200 meter long bridge is also referred to as the Pont Caille.  The French bridge kept the height record in Europe for 73 years before a higher suspension bridge opened across the Rhumel river gorge in the north African country of Algeria in the city of Constantine.  Designed by renowned French bridge engineer Ferdinand Arnodin, this suspension / cable stayed bridge hybrid connects two cliffs more than 574 feet (175 meters) above the river.  In 1929 the height record nearly doubled when the Royal Gorge suspension bridge opened in the U.S. state of Colorado with a deck 955 feet (291 meters) above the Arkansas river.  The popular tourist attraction became the first bridge known around the world for its great height and was listed in the Guiness Book of Records for more than 40 years.
+By the early 1800s, suspension bridges were becoming the bridge of choice for spans of more than 200 feet (60 meters).  So in 1839, French engineer E. Belin had no choice but to cross the 482 foot (147 meter) deep chasm of the Usses river with a suspension bridge in the mountainous Rhône-Alpes region of France.  Named after Charles-Albert, the king of Piedmont, the 200 meter long bridge is also referred to as the Pont Caille.  The French bridge kept the height record in Europe for 73 years before a higher suspension bridge opened across the Rhumel river gorge in the north African country of Algeria in the city of Constantine in 1912.  Designed by renowned French bridge engineer Ferdinand Arnodin, this suspension / cable stayed bridge hybrid connects two cliffs more than 574 feet (175 meters) above the river.  The height record stayed in North Africa for 10 years before the Swiss pipeline bridge Niouc was strung across a 623 foot (190 meter) high chasm in 1922.  Then in 1929 the height record nearly doubled when the Royal Gorge suspension bridge opened in the U.S. state of Colorado with a deck 955 feet (291 meters) above the Arkansas river.  The popular tourist attraction became the first bridge known around the world for its great height and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for more than 40 years.
 [[File:DellaTorreBobCortright.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Della Torre Aqueduct in Italy]]

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 [[File:1LiuguangheBridge_copy.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Liuguanghe Bridge, Guizhou, China - The world's highest from 2001 - 2003]]
-The highest of China’s many high bridges are located primarily in the 3 western Provinces of Guizhou, Hubei and Chongqing.  This region contains an astounding 8 of the world’s 12 highest bridges.  All eight of these exceed 900 feet (275 meters) in height while four have held the world record for highest road or rail bridge including the latest Guinness book champ, the stunning 1,550 foot high (472 meters) Siduhe bridge.  More than 35 others in the region exceed 500 feet (152 meters) in height.  The big cities of Yichang, Chongqing and Guiyang are ground zero for those looking to travel to these bridges.
+The highest of China’s many high bridges are located primarily in the 4 western Provinces of Guizhou, Hubei, Yunnan and Chongqing.  This region contains an astounding 10 of the world’s 12 highest bridges.  All ten of these exceed 1,115 feet (340 meters) in height while six have held the world record for highest road or rail bridge including the latest Guinness book champ, the stunning 1,854 foot high (565 meters) Beipanjiang Duge Bridge.  More than 50 others in the region exceed 500 feet (152 meters) in height.  The big cities of Yichang, Chongqing and Guiyang are ground zero for those looking to travel to these bridges.
 After China, the country with the greatest number of high bridges is Italy.  For a region that is only the size of the U.S. state of California, it is simply amazing how many towering viaducts or viadottos are spread out among Italy’s expansive array of Autostrada.  Built mostly in the 1970s and 80s, this web of bridge-filled motorways includes the A3, A10, A12, A15, and A26.  The most recent addition to this family is the breathtaking A20 motorway that opened in 2004 on the island of Sicily between Palermo and Messina.  Perched hundreds of feet above the Mediterranean coast, this 4-lane marvel crosses dozens of colossal beam bridges that are nearly always wedged between two large tunnels.  Italy is also home to 6 of the 10 highest bridge piers in Europe.

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 [[File:ChateletPon4Jacques Gré copy.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Pont Chatelet in France]]
-In 2005, an unusual pipeline suspension bridge in Papua New Guinea became the 10th bridge in history to hold the height record at 1,289 feet (393 meters).  Finally in 2009 the record returned to China with the opening of the Siduhe bridge.
+In 2005, an unusual pipeline suspension bridge in Papua New Guinea briefly became the 10th bridge in history to hold the height record at 1,289 feet (393 meters) before the record returned to China in 2009 with the opening of the Siduhe bridge.
-Siduhe's opening marked only the third time in history that one country has had the 3 highest road or rail bridges in the world.  The first time was in 1884 when France’s Charles Albert suspension bridge, Gustav Eiffel’s Garabit viaduct and the Pont Chatelet were higher than any other bridges on earth.  Then in 1965 the United States claimed the top 3 spots with the Royal Gorge, Glen Canyon Dam and Bidwell Bar Bridges.  The Balinghe and Beipanjiang (2003) suspension bridges rounded out China’s triumvirate before even higher spans cemented this record with the completion of Puli, Yachi, Qingshuihe and the upcoming Jinshajiang Taku Bridges.
+The 2016 opening of the Beipanjiang Duge Bridge marked only the third time in history that one country has had the 3 highest bridges in the world.  The first time was in 1884 when France’s Charles Albert suspension bridge, Gustav Eiffel’s Garabit viaduct and the Pont Chatelet were higher than any other bridges on earth.  Then in 1965 the United States claimed the top 3 spots with the Royal Gorge, Glen Canyon Dam and Bidwell Bar Bridges.  The Beipanjiang Duge, Siduhe and Puli suspension bridges rounded out China’s triumvirate before even higher spans cemented this record with the completion of Yachi, Qingshuihe and the upcoming Jinshajiang Taku Bridges.
 =The Future=
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 With China in the middle of the most expansive highway construction boom ever, this will be the place to watch for some time to come.  Asia in general is enlarging its road infrastructure far and wide so expect this whole region to be a hot spot for high bridge activity for at least the next couple of decades.
-In Europe, Spain is aggresively playing catchup with its more established neighbors and is in the middle of a highway and railway construction boom that has produced more high bridges in the last decade than any other country on earth outside of China.  The mountainous A6 and A8 Autovías have a large selection of towering viaductos and are the leaders in a network of Spanish highways that will soon surpass both France and Germany in total length.  On a smaller scale, nearby Portugal has also been producing an impressive number of tall viaducts on several new highways.
+In Europe, Spain is aggressively playing catchup with its more established neighbors and is in the middle of a highway and railway construction boom that has produced more high bridges in the last decade than any other country on earth outside of China.  The mountainous A6 and A8 Autovías have a large selection of towering viaductos and are the leaders in a network of Spanish highways that will soon surpass both France and Germany in total length.  On a smaller scale, nearby Portugal has also been producing an impressive number of tall viaducts on several new highways.
 Outside of a few new Appalachian highways in the U.S., most of the North American high bridge activity is taking place in Mexico where there are at least two major mountain expressways under construction.  Each of the two new autopistas is producing a record breaking bridge - one for cable stayed bridge height and one for beam bridge pier height.