Nanpu Bridge – Shanghai – China
When the discussion is about advancements and their visibility, how can one forget to mention China in the list of the contributing countries? And when the Chinese advancements and spectacles come in to the limelight, it is hard to miss mentioning the 57th longest cable resting bridge of world, the Nanpu Bridge of Shanghai.
Making the Nanpu Bridge a Reality
The Nanpu Bridge of Shanghai, constructed over the Huangpu River, has been the results of the joints efforts of a number of Chinese thinking bodies, like the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute, Shanghai Urban Construction College, and Shanghai Urban Construction Design Institute, to make a bridge that rests on cables. In this effort they also got the help from Holger S. Svensson to bring the concept to reality.
The length of the entire bridge is 846 meters with a breadth of 30.35 metres in which the over water part stretches for 423 meters. The bridge has six driving lanes and while the entire bridge is supported by 22 pairs of steel cables, it gets support on the two banks with the help of two concrete towers which are 150 meters tall and are shaped like H.
The Nanpu Bridge of Shanghai finds resemblance with yet another main bridge of China and therefore is also known as sister to the Yangpu Bridge. However, the statistics of the Nanpu Bridge say that it is smaller than its sister bridge.
Importance of the Nanpu Bridge
The objective behind building the Nanpu and the Yangpu bridges was to connect the eastern part of Shanghai, better known as Pudong, with the rest of the Shanghai. These two bridges, separated from each other by a distance of 11 kilometres serve the purpose well and together meet the Oriental Towers of Shanghai. Such is the magnificence of bridges that a distanced view of them with the Oriental Towers gives the feel of two dragons over the Huangpu River playing with a pearl.
One of the features of attraction of the Nanpu Bridge is that besides the over water part, the rest of the bridge which is on land has a spiral design. The objective behind this kind of planning is to reduce the gradient of the traffic which approaches the bridge and also to use the minimum amount of land possible. This kind of shape of the bridge gives it the feel of a large dragon that lies on the river with its head and tail coiled.
The most important contribution of the Nanpu Bridge to the people of Shanghai has been that ever since it got opened for the public in 1991, 14,000 to 17,000 vehicles initially started making use of it unlike their previous usage of ferries to move been the parts of Puxi and Pudong. By 2006, this number had risen to 120,000 every day of the year.
Thus, the Nanpu Bridge is yet another instance of modern day advancements which has not only enhanced the beauty of Shanghai but provides definite public service too.