Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kiyosu Bridge across the Sumida RIver (1)

June 2011 (35.682 Degrees, 139.792 Degrees) Kiyosu Bridge

Continuing upstream on the Sumida River we arrive at a three span self-anchored suspension bridge. The Kiyosu Bridge is another steel structure built after the Great Kanto Earthquake. It was completed in 1928, it's 183 m long, and 22 m wide (according to the Structurae Website).

Self-anchored suspension bridges are uncommon but several have been built in Japan (For instance, the Konohana Bridge in Osaka Bay from my blog of June 11, 2009). However, the Kiyosu Bridge is of an older style with steel links instead of cables. It must be an attractive choice, similar to an arch, when you need a medium length bridge but you don't want to build costly anchors. This bridge must have members under the deck, only to carry compression rather than the tension of a tied arch.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Kiyosu Bridge across the Sumida River (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.