The Dragon Bridge ( vi, Cầu Rồng) is a bridge over the
River Hàn at
Da Nang,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
Construction of the bridge began on 19 July 2009 (the same day as the inauguration of the nearby
Thuận Phước Bridge) when the former
Prime Minister of Vietnam
The prime minister of Vietnam ( vi, Thủ tướng Việt Nam), officially styled as the Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic ( vi, Thủ tướng Chính phủ nước Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa), is the head of g ...
Nguyen Tan Dung
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...
and many high-ranking government officials attended the
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...
ceremony.
Dragon Bridge is 666m long, 37.5m wide and has six lanes for traffic. It opened to traffic on March 29, 2013, at a cost of nearly
VND 1.5 trillion dong (
US$88m). The bridge was designed by the US-based Ammann & Whitney Consulting Engineers with Louis Berger Group. Construction was undertaken by Company No. 508, an affiliate of Civil Construction Engineering Corporation No.5, and Bridge Company No. 75.
The main span was completed on October 26, 2012. The bridge was opened to traffic on March 29, 2013, the 38th anniversary of the capture of Da Nang City by North Vietnamese forces (known as the Liberation of Da Nang in Vietnam) during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
(known as the American War in Vietnam).
This modern bridge crosses the Han River
at the Le Dinh Duong/Bach Dang
traffic circle
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...
, providing the shortest road link from the Da Nang International Airport to other main roads in Da Nang city, and a more direct route to My Khe Beach and Non Nuoc Beach on the eastern edge of the city. The bridge was designed and built in the shape of a
dragon and to breathe
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
and water each Friday, Saturday and Sunday night at 9 pm.
See also
*
Han River Bridge
*
Thuận Phước Bridge
*
Trần Thị Lý Bridge
References
External links
"Dragon Bridge, Vietnam" at roadtraffic-technology webpage"Dragon Bridge, Vietnam" at the Berger Group webpage{{commons category, Dragon Bridge (Danang)
Google Earth view
Road bridges in Vietnam
Bridges in Da Nang
Bridges completed in 2013
Tourist attractions in Da Nang
Sculptures of dragons