Recent Developments of Long-Span Highway Bridges in China

Abstract

From the Industrial Revolution, the evolution of bridge engineering has undergone more than two centuries. The development of long-span highway bridges depends on social need, design competition, structural theory, construction material and technology, etc. In the past two decades, China has become the world center of the infrastructure construction and many record-breaking bridges have been built. This paper presents a brief technical review about those significant long-span bridges in China during the past decade. The structural types in this review included arch, cable-stayed and suspension bridge. In addition, several recent completed fixed links in China were introduced. Main features are presented in three catalogs: (1) structural dimension; (2) key design feature; and (3) construction method. This review shows the recent achievements in design and construction of long-span bridges to provide a reference for new bridge design and construction in the twenty-first centuries.