The Irrawaddy Bridge (Yadanabon) () (also Ayeyarwady Bridge, Yadanabon Bridge, Yadanar Pone Bridge or New Ava Bridge) is a bridge in

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fou ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. It crosses the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Orig ...

, to the southwest of

and

Amarapura Amarapura ( my, အမရပူရ, MLCTS=a. ma. ra. pu ra., , ; also spelt as Ummerapoora) is a former capital of Myanmar, and now a township of Mandalay city. Amarapura is bounded by the Irrawaddy river in the west, Chanmyathazi Township in t ...

and just to the north of the old Ava Bridge, and is also known as the New Ava Bridge. It was completed in 2008.

Location

The Yadanabon Bridge spans the Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady River) in the Mandalay suburb connects with

Sagaing Sagaing (, ) is the former capital of the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located in the Irrawaddy River, to the south-west of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river. Sagaing with numerous Buddhist monasteries is an important religious and m ...

City. It is upstream of the Ava Bridge. which is at the confluence of the Irrawaddy with the Myitnge River, close to the Kyaukse rice fields. The bridge (also known as Ayeyawady Bridge) is the gateway to

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Mandalay and interior other regions. Nearby on the river banks are two 12th century ''payas'' known as Shwe-kyet-yet and Shwe-kyet-kya.

History

The old Ava (or Inva or

Inwa Inwa (, or ; also spelled Innwa; formerly known as Ava), located in Mandalay Region, Myanmar, is an ancient imperial capital of successive Burmese kingdoms from the 14th to 19th centuries. Throughout history, it was sacked and rebuilt numerou ...

Bridge) across the

had a span of . Built by the British in 1934, until the 1990s, it was the only bridge which spanned this river. The Ava had aged, and its carrying capacity became limited to under 15-ton capacity trucks since 1992. Heavily laden vehicles crossed the river with Z-craft ferries, resulting in less efficient transportation of goods. To ease the traffic congestion and to help improve the overall economic conditions of Burma, a new bridge was planned by the government. International tender was invited in early 2002 for ts construction. The tender for the highway bridge envisaged planning, design and construction. The bidding process lasted eight months, and the work was awarded to China CAMC Engineering Cc., Ltd. in October 2002. The contract was signed in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

for a tendered amount of US$10.90 million on 19 November 2002. (By 2004, 35 bridges were under construction in Burma, along with the Irrawaddy of Yadanabon.) The new bridge was opened on 11 April 2008.

Features

Irrawaddy Bridge was built by the Public Works of the Ministry of Construction. It has total span of long and has a four-lane motorway of width with pedestrian lanes of wide on the flanks. It is designed for a carrying capacity of 60 tons. The bridge is a flexible beam structure with three rigid arches of 224 meters each. The main bridge is long. Its approach on the Mandalay side is long and that on the Sagaing side is 7. The Thiri Mangala overpass above the railway crossing (which used to hold up traffic) involved a reinforced concrete bridge of length with a two-lane motorway with a carrying capacity of 60 tons. It is designed to provide a clearance of width and height to pass the trains.

References

;Bibliography * * * {{coord, 21, 52, 39, N, 95, 59, 42, E, type:landmark, display=title Bridges in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Mandalay Region Bridges completed in 2008