The Xihoumen Bridge () is a
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...
on the
Zhoushan Archipelago
Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of H ...
, the largest offshore island group in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
.
Linking
Jintang and
Cezi islands, the bridge, together with the 27-kilometer
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 ...
Jintang Bridge linking Jintang and
Zhenhai in the neighboring city of
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, is part of the second and last phase of a bridging project started in 1999 to connect the Zhoushan Archipelago to the mainland via five bridges. The bridge forms part of the
Yongzhou Expressway.
Built by the province of
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...
at a cost of 2.48 billion yuan (approximately US$363 million), construction began in 2005 and the main span was completed in December 2007. The bridge was opened to traffic on a test basis on 25 December 2009, at 11:58 p.m., local time alongside the Jintang Bridge, before it is officially open for traffic.
The opening date was delayed due to a ship collision on 16 November 2009 that slightly damaged the side of Jintang Bridge.
The 5.3-kilometre suspension bridge connection has a 2.6-kilometre main bridge with a central span of 1,650 metres. The approaches total 2.7 kilometres. When built, it was the second-
longest suspension bridge ranked by the length of the centre span after the
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in
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 n ...
.
See also
*
List of bridges in China
This list of bridges in China includes notable bridges. China has a long history in bridge construction. The oldest bridge still in existence in China is the Anji Bridge, constructed during the years between 595 and 605.
During the infrastructur ...
*
List of longest suspension bridge spans
The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (i.e. the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspen ...
Notes
External links
*
Xihoumen bridge images and location at Google Earth*
diagrams and artist's depiction{{Zhoushan Cross-sea Bridges
Suspension bridges in China
Bridges completed in 2007
Bridges in Zhoushan
Cross-sea bridges in China