Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge Vũ Hán Trường Giang đại kiều | |
|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 30°32′59″N114°17′18″E/ 30.5497°N 114.2882°E |
| Carries | 4 lanes Highway 2 tracks of the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway |
| Crosses | Yangtze River |
| Locale | Wuhan,Hubei,China |
| Other name(s) | Wuhan Great Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Truss bridge |
| Total length | 1,670 metres (5,480 ft) |
| Width | 22.5 metres (74 ft) |
| Longest span | 128 metres (420 ft) |
| History | |
| Constructed by | Wuhan Great Bridge Engineering Bureau |
| Construction start | 1 September 1955 |
| Construction end | September 1957 |
| Opened | 15 October 1957 |
| Location | |
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TheWuhan Yangtze Great Bridge(simplified Chinese:Vũ Hán Trường Giang đại kiều;traditional Chinese:Vũ Hán Trường Giang đại kiều;pinyin:Wǔhàn Chángjiāng Dàqiáo), commonly known asWuhan First Yangtze Bridge,is a double-deckroad and rail bridgeacross theYangtze RiverinWuhan,inCentral China.At its completion in 1957, the bridge was the easternmost crossing of the Yangtze, and was often referred to as the "First Bridge of the Yangtze".
The bridge extends 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) from Turtle Hill inHanyang,on the northern bank of the Yangtze, to Snake Hill inWuchang,on the southern bank of the Yangtze. Plans for the bridge's construction were first made in 1910. A total of four exploratory surveys were made between 1913 and 1948 to identify a suitable site, but economic limitations and the combination ofWorld War IIand theChinese Civil Warprevented the bridge's building until the 1950s. Actual construction began in September 1955 and was completed in October 1957.
The upper level of the bridge is a two-way, four-lane automobile highway. The lower level is adouble-track railwayon the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line.
History
[edit]Background
[edit]The Wuhan metropolis is an amalgamation of three cities situated at the confluence of theHan Riverand the Yangtze:Wuchang,located on the southern bank of the Yangtze,Hanyang,located on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the west bank of the Han, andHankou,located on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the eastern bank of the Han. Wuhan lies at the heart of Central China and is a hub from transportation between theCentral Plainin northern China and the trading ports ofGuangzhouandHong Kongin southern China. The Beijing-Wuhan railway line went into full service in 1906, followed in 1936 by the Wuhan-Guangzhou railway line. Between that time and the bridge's completion in 1957, railway cars travelling between northern and southern China had to be ferried over the Yangtze on barges, a laborious and dangerous practice.
Early planning
[edit]Early formulations of plans for a railway bridge over the Yangtze at Wuhan were put forward byZhang Zhidongin the late 19th century. In May 1912, railroad engineerJeme Tien Yowwas made head of the Wuhan-Guangzhou railway association by theBeiyang Government.While working on the Wuchang railroad station, Jeme incorporated plans for connection of the Beijing and Guangzhou lines into the railroad's construction.
In 1913,Peking Universityprofessor of engineering George Miller brought Xia Changchi (Chinese:Hạ xương sí), Li Wenji (Chinese:Lý văn ký), and 13 other Chinese engineering students to Wuhan to dosurveyingfor a possible bridge location. At the same time, Peking University PresidentYan Fusubmitted the initial proposal for bridge construction to the Department of Transportation. The earliest designs for the bridge were modeled after theForth Bridge,nearEdinburgh,which had been completed in 1890. Although their work never proceeded past the planning phase, the area identified in the 1913 surveys proved to be an excellent site, and is the location where the bridge was eventually built.[1]Wang Yuan Tang also contributed to this work. He was a lead engineer in designing this bridge.
Sun Yat-sen's treatiseThe International Development of China,published in 1919, emphasized the economic importance of finding a suitable location for building a bridge over or a tunnel under the Yangtze along the Wuhan railway line. At the time, Sun wrote, "There ought to be a tunnel constructed under the first turn of the Yangtze at Wuhan to connect the two banks. Moreover, there ought to be a tunnel or bridge at the mouth of the Han River to link the three cities of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang together into one metropolis."[2]However, contemporary work on the railway bridge over theYellow RiveratZhengzhousapped China of its limited bridge-building resources.
Construction
[edit]
In 1949, shortly after theChinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War and its founding of thePeople's Republic of China,former Peking University engineering student Li Wenji, by then 63 years old, and bridge engineerMao Yisheng(Chinese:Mao Dĩ Thăng) submitted a proposal to the new government for the construction of the Wuhan bridge as "a memorial to the success of the new democratic revolution." Li and the others were invited to the firstChinese People's Political Consultative Conferencein September 1949 to participate in discussions on the bridge's construction.
The proposals were accepted, and a bridge committee was created in January 1950. Li was able to participate in the first year of the planning and building work before he became ill and died in August 1951. Between 1950 and 1953, three conferences were held to discuss the plans, designs, and construction of the bridge as they developed. In February 1953,Mao Zedongtraveled to Wuhan to receive reports on the project's progress, and was taken to theYellow Crane Towerto view the proposed bridge site. On 1 April 1953,Zhou Enlaiapproved the creation of the Wuhan Great Bridge Engineering Bureau, which was responsible for overseeing the design and building of the bridge, with Peng Min (Chinese:Bành mẫn) as bureau chief and party secretary and Wang Juqian (Chinese:Uông cúc tiềm) as chief engineer.
Chinese engineers in the 1950s were still heavily reliant on Russian expertise on major projects. Between July and September 1953, Chinese engineers brought a large number of the bridge's plans and blueprints toMoscowfor consultation withSovietengineers. In July 1954, theState Council of the People's Republic of Chinagave approval for a 28-person delegation of Soviet engineers, led by Konstantin Sergeyevich Silin (1913–1996), to travel to China and assist the Chinese with the bridge's design and construction.
Construction officially began on 1 September 1955. Silin had predicted that usingpressured-air caissonswould be impractical due to the Yangtze's unpredictable water level, which made drilling holes for the bridge's supports much more difficult. Thecantilever bridgedesign was used, and construction proceeded for over two years. Mao Zedong returned to Wuhan on 6 September 1957 to inspect the nearly-completed bridge, and was able to walk from the Hanyang side to the Wuchang side. The bridge formally opened to public traffic on 15 October 1957.
On 20 September 1958,trolleybus route 1,which crosses the Yangtze River using the bridge, officially started operations. It continues to utilize this bridge till today.[1]
On January 31, 2018,Theresa May,Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,visited Wuhan and took pictures on the Wuchang District side of the Yangtze River at the First Yangtze River Bridge.[3]
See also
[edit]
- Wuhan#Completion and opening-to-traffic of the First Yangtze River Bridge
- Yangtze River bridges and tunnels
- List of bridges in China
References
[edit]- ^ab(Chinese)Ling Hong-hsün lăng hồng huân,Chung-kuo t'ieh-lu chihTrung Quốc đường sắt chí ( "China Railroad Monograph" ), Taipei: Shih-chieh shu-chu (1963), 416-420.
- ^(Chinese)Wu Zhiling Ngô chi lăng, Wang Xie uông hiệp, "Wuhan chengshi guihua sixiang de bainian yanbian Vũ Hán thành thị quy hoạch tư tưởng trăm năm diễn biến" ( "100 Years of Evolution in Wuhan Metropolis Planning Thought" ),Chengshi Guihua XuekanThành thị quy hoạch học khan 2009.4, 182.
- ^"Ӣ Ů û վ người ɽ ǻƺ ¥ Сʱ ջ _ _".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-03-03.