Haiwen Bridge () (named Puqian Bridge while under construction) is a

cable-stayed A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

located east of

Haikou Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the Ha ...

City, Hainan, China. It crosses the mouth of

Dongzhai Harbor Dongzhai Harbor () is located in the northeast of Hainan Province, China. This water body is bordered by Haikou's Meilan District at the west and Wenchang at the east. Etymology Before the year 1605, there was a village in the area called Dongzha ...

and was built to provide quicker access between Haikou and Wenchang, a large, administrative division of Hainan province. (The area of Wenchang contains the city of

Wenchang Wenchang ( postal: Mencheong; ) is a county-level city in the northeast of Hainan province, China. Although called a "city", Wenchang refers to a large land area in Hainan - an area which was once a county. The urban center and the seat of govern ...

further south.) The bridge reduced travel time from Haikou to Wenchang from 90 minutes down to around 20 minutes.

Location

The eastern end of the bridge terminates at the town of

Puqian Puqian () is a port town on the eastern shore of Dongzhai Harbor in Wenchang, Hainan province, China. Old street A road running from the port at the west to the southernmost point of the main road is lined with tong lau buildings similar in styl ...

. The western end has abutments on, and crosses over, a small island named

Beigang Island Beigang Island (), literally North Port Island, is a small island located in the mouth of Dongzhai Harbor, Hainan, China. There are three villages, fish farms, and some mangroves on the island. Beigang Island is under the jurisdiction of Meilan Dis ...

. It then terminates on the western side of the mouth of Dongzhai Harbor. There, it connects to the nearly complete Jiangdong Avenue () which runs west to connect to the

Haikou New East Bridge Haikou New East Bridge () is an arch bridge over the Nandu River, Hainan, China. It connects Xinbu Island Xinbu Island () is a coastal island located directly to the east of Haidian Island in Haikou, Hainan, China. This island, located at the m ...

and to start of Haidian No. 5 East Road which leads through

Xinbu Island Xinbu Island () is a coastal island located directly to the east of Haidian Island in Haikou, Hainan, China. This island, located at the mouth of the Nandu River, has a population of approximately 4,000 people. Xinbu Island effectively splits the ...

and into Haidian Island, part of Haikou City. Haiwen Bridge effectively connects the east side of the Dongzhai Harbor to Haikou.

Construction

Haiwen Bridge is a single-pylon, double-plane, steel box girder, cable-stayed bridge. The entire length of the bridge is 5,600 metres long and 32 metres wide. The main span consists two, 230-metre sections, one on each side of the pylon. The deck is steel with a flat, closed box cross section 37.3 metres wide and 3.3 metres deep. The surface contains a two-way, six-lane road.

Resistance to earthquakes

Because Haiwen Bridge crosses over a geological fault line, it is built to withstand earthquakes. The area was devastated by the 1605 Qiongshan earthquake.

Records

Haiwen Bridge is the biggest single-tower, double-cable-plane, steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Hainan. As of 2018, compared to any other bridge in China, this bridge has the best seismic resistance fortification, is designed to resist the highest winds, and is the only cross-sea type bridge that is built over seismic faults. It is also a first in employing a continuous steel box, across-fault, girder structural system, as well as having the biggest domestic steel pipe foundation, which comprises thirty-two steel pipe composite piles, each one having a diameter of 4.3 metres.

Timeline

Construction of Haiwen Bridge began on March 7, 2015. The bridge opened on March 18, 2019. The estimated cost is 3.01 billion

Renminbi The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

($440 million).

References

External links

{{Commons category, Haiwen Bridge
ImagesSeismic responses and seismic mitigation design of main bridge of Haiwen Bridge under near-fault ground motionDrawing of spansDrawing of deck
Road bridges in China Bridges in Hainan Transport in Hainan Bridges completed in 2019