Posted on Jun 25, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The 10th longest bridge in the world as of this posting and 10th on our list is the 6th October Bridge in Cairo, Egypt. The bridge is 12.74 miles long, connection part of the city highway to the Cairo International Airport. The people of Cairo call this bridge, the spinal cord of Cairo because half the city travels on it daily. The bridge is usually croweded due to everyone useing it and can take as long as 45 minutes to cross when traffic is heavy. The bridge was under construction for 30 years and was finnaly finnished in 1996.

Posted on Jun 24, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 23 mile long bridge and tunnel system that connects southeastern Virginia with Delmarva Peninsula in the United States. The bridge connects the following independent cities Virginia Beach, and Norfolk, Virginia to Cape Charles in Northampton County along the eastern shore of Virginia.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel uses a combo of tunnels and bridges over two separated shipping channels using four artificial islands built in the bay as portals.

The bridge-tunnel was opened on April 15th, 1964, in August 1987 it was officially named the Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge-Tunnel after one of the civic leaders who worked for its development. However, it still is best known as Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

The bridge part of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel as far as I can know is 15.6 Miles long which is why this bridge is placed at number at the worlds 9th longest bridge and 7th longest over water and 4th longest bridge in the USA and 8th longest that is used by autos.

The above water part of the bridge was upgraded in 1995-1999 from 2 lanes to a 4 lanes at a cost of $200 million

After the bridge-tunnel opened in 1964, it was selected as One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World by American Society of Civil Engineers, however it has been replaced on this list since with more recent engineering wonders.

Posted on Jun 23, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Tianjin Binhai Mass Transit (BMT) (滨海快速) or Jinbin light rail (津滨轻轨) is not like the other bridges on the list so far this one is a light rail fast transit line or a rapid metro train line. The longest all bridge part of this train line is 16.03 Miles long which makes this the 8th longest bridge in the world and first longest train bridge. This bridge connects Metropolitan Tianjin to TEDA which are both located in China.

The length of the eastern part of the bridge, from Zhongshanmen to Donghailu, is 28.22 miles, of which, 24.8 miles is elevated, and 3.41 miles is on ground, taking a total of around an hour in either direction. A big portion of the service is alongside with the Jintang expressway. The west part, from Zhongxinguangchang to Zhongshanmen, will be 4.57 miles long, of which, 0.36 miles will be elevated, 0.17 miles will be transition, 4.14 miles will be below ground. The total length of the line will be 32.78 miles, and the Binhai line is the longest rapid transit line in China. The construction work of the west part began in 2004, to be completed in 2008.

The train used for the Binhai Mass Transit can travel up to 62.14 miles per hour, which is the record speed for any rapid transit system in China. Construction of the bridge/rapid transit line began on May 18th, 2001 and was finished on September 30th, 2003. The lines where opened in 2004.

Posted on Jun 22, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The 7th bridge on our list is the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge all though I do not have much information about this bridge nor do I know how much steel was used on this bridge.

If anyone has information to add please comment so we can add information. This is what we do know as of this posting Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is the 7th longest bridge in the world and the 6th longest over water. The bridge is located in Louisiana, USA and carries interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin the bridge has a total length of 96,095 feet or 18.2 miles long.

Posted on Jun 21, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Donghai Bridge is the second longest cross-sea bridge and the 6th longest bridge in the world.

The bridge was the longest cross-sea bridge in the world for a few years until Hangzhou Bay Bridge was opened on May 1st, 2008.

The Donghai Bridge (simplified Chinese: 东海大桥; traditional Chinese: æ±æµ·å¤§æ©‹; pinyin: DÅnghÇŽi Dàqiáo; literally "East Sea Grand Bridge") was completed on December 10th, 2005 and has a total length of 20.19 miles it connects Yangshan deep-water port and Shanghai in China.

The majority of the bridge is low-level viaduct but there are also cable-stayed sections to allow large ships passage.

Not sure how much steel was used in the construction of this bridge, but as always if I get these figures I will post them or if you have them feel free to comment so everyone can know.

Posted on Jun 20, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Runyang Bridge or Rùnyáng ChángjiÄng Dàqiáo crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China.

The bridge consist of two major bridges that link Tangzhou on the north of the river and Zhenjiang on the South. The bridge is part of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway.

The south bridge is a suspension bridge with a span of 4888 ft it is the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world, and the longest in China up untill 2007 when the Xihoumen Bridge was opened and made it the 2nd longest in china and 4th in the world.

The main span of the bridge consists of a streamlined orthotropic steel box girder that is 3 metres (10 ft) in depth. The width of the deck is 39.2 metres (129 ft), accommodating 6 traffic lanes and a narrow walkway at each outside edge for maintenance. The height clearance for river navigation is about 50 metres (164 ft).

The north bridge is a cable-stayed bridge with a span of 1332 ft with towers 492 ft abover water level. In the middle of the two bridges is the island of Sivezhou. The length of the bridge is 22.16 miles. The construction of the bridge started in October 2000 and was opened to the public on April 30th, 2005 , it was opened ahead of schedule

Posted on Jun 19, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is the worlds 4th longest bridge 3rd longest over water bridge and the worlds longest Trans-oceanic bridge at 22.17 miles long .

Construction on this bridge started on June 8th, 2003 and was completed on June 14th, 2007. The opening ceremony was on June 26th, 2007 even though the bridge was not officially open to the public until May 1st, 2008. This is as of this posting the longest bridge in China and was built to last at least 100 years.

Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a bridge with cable-stayed bridge portions across the Hangzhou Bay off the east coast of china. The bridge was built in an s shape so that the annual silver dragon is minimally affected. The bridge has two main spans a 1,470 ft northern span and a 1,043 ft southern span.

The bridge has 6 express lanes in two directions. The speed limit is 62 miles per hour. Orthotropic steel deck is used on its main spans and five ramp bridges, and was paved with 50 millimeters (2.0 in) epoxy asphalt concrete.

The bridge uses different colors and flashing lights to keep drivers from getting drowsy and pay attention to the road instead. Previously the trip from Ningbo to Shanghai and southern Jiangsu involved a detour of around 400 km (249 mi), the bridge reduces that distance to 80 km (50 mi), a reduction of 320 km (199 mi).

The result is that Ningbo, with its port at Beilun, will be able to compete with Shanghai’s port Pudong for international sea freight.

This is just one of the investments China has made in it’s transportation infrastructure in the past few years.

The bridge is expected to boost tourism in Ningbo. Again I do not have the figures on how much steel was used in the construction of this bridge but if you get it I will post it, and as always if you have this information feel free to comment.

Posted on Jun 18, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Third bridge in this series, also the Third longest bridge in the world, and the second longest bridge over water. The briidge is located in Louisiana, USA, with a length of 23 Miles it comes in right behind Lake Pontchatrain Causeway at (23.87 mi) and Bang Na Expressway (33.51 mi). we do not have much info about this bridge and I don’t know how much steel was used in it’s construction but if we get this information I will post it here, feel free to comment if you have these numbers.

Posted on Jun 17, 2008 under Steel Structures |
The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway

also known as the Causeway is the worlds second longest bridge at 23.87 miles behind the Bang Na Expressway (33.51 mi) , the Causeway is the longest bridge in the world over water as of this posting.

The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway crosses over Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana, USA. The bridge connects Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans and Mandeville, Louisiana.

Although I don’t have the numbers on the amount of steel used in the building of this bridge I do know there are over 9000 concrete pillings supporting the bridge.

The The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway first opened in 1956 and was at that time a a two-lane span of 1/100th of a mile. bridges was expanded on and re opened on May 10th, 1969. This bridge is a toll bridge and always has been.

Posted on Jun 16, 2008 under Steel Structures |
This is the first in our bridge series although a bridge is not the first thing you think of when you talk about Steel Buildings it is one of the first things you think about when you talk about Steel Structures, and although most bridges are not made mostly of steel, they almost all use a significant amount of steel, either as cables or more commonly steel used in reinforcing concrete ,with out the Steel most large structures today could not be possible, so lets start the Bridge Series with the Bang Na Expressway

The Bang Na Expressway is a huge Conrete and Steel Bridge that streches 33.51 Miles to make it the longest Bridge in the world as of this posting.

The Bang Na Expressway is also known as the Burapha Withi Expressway this Bridge is located in Bankok , Thailand.

Althought we don’t have the exact amount of steel used on this job we do have some other info for you and pictures.
Structure Elements
Foundation of main line
Main Column
Portal Frame
D2/D3 and D6
FOUNDATION OF MAIN LINE
- SPUN PILE,
- Dia800 mm (31.5")
- 120 mm wall thickness
- wo sections welded
- 16 piles per pier
- PILE CAP,
- 2.5 m(8.2") thickness
- Below the flow line
MAIN COLUMN
H – Shape, slender light appearance
Average height of 16 m (52.5’)
Cast-in-place

PORTAL FRAME
- Toll plazas, merging areas of the ramps
- Portal Frame with D2/D3 and D6 segments
PORTAL ERECTION TRUSS
- Two components connected by a turntable
- Launching girder with two main spans long
- Erection girder with two portal spans long



