Main Body of World’s Longest-span Mountain Suspension Bridge Completed

The main structure of the Jin'an Jinsha River Bridge, the longest-span mountain suspension bridge in the world, was completed on Jan 15.

A major section of the Huaping-Lijiang Expressway in Yunnan Province, the bridge has a 1,386-meter span and a single-span double hinge plate-joist steel truss structure.

Located in a high-altitude, high altitude difference, and high-seismic intensity area, the bridge has complicated structures and was hard to build.

A main part of China's G4216 highway network, the Huaping-Lijiang Expressway starts from Rongjiang county, Huaping town and ends in Lashi county, in Lijiang.

The expressway stretches to Dali and the ASEAN countries in the south, links to Diqing and the Tibet Autonomous Region in the north, goes through Huaping to Sichuan Province and Chongqing in the east and runs through Baoshan to South Asia in the west.

The four-lane highway is about 150 kilometers and has a designed speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

There are 142 bridges, 32 tunnels and 13 interchanges as well as 35.2 kilometers of connecting line along the highway, eight sections of which were built by China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC).

Driving time between the Old Town of Lijiang and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province will be shortened to three hours when the expressway is completed.

The expressway will also promote development in northwestern Yunnan and support poverty alleviation and tourism development in affected areas.

The main structure of the world's longest-span mountain suspension bridge is completed. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)