The Ikitsuki Bridge is a
continuous truss bridge
A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge which extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads ...
that connects
Ikitsuki to
Hirado Island
(also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado, Nagas ...
. Completed in 1991, it has a main span of . It is the
longest continuous truss bridge in the world.
History
The bridge allows automobile access from Ikitsuki to Hirado and the rest of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Previously, the only option to travel off Ikitsuki was by
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
to various ports in
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
.
See also
*
List of longest continuous truss bridge spans
This list of continuous bridge spans ranks the world's continuous truss bridges in two First by the length of main span (the longest length of unsupported roadway) and second by the total length of continuous truss spans.
This list includes brid ...
*
Truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
References
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