Shanghai, China's Bridges: Datong Road Bridge

A view downstream from the deck of the Datong Road Bridge. There's a barrier in the the middle of the deck (in the extreme foreground), perhaps to prevent head-on collisions. Not a bad idea.

Vehicles in China drive (or ride) on the right-hand side of the road. A few countries still use the left side. When I lived in Japan, whenever I made a left-hand turn, I found myself aiming towards the right side of the road, and into oncoming traffic! Being a traveler requires a certain dexterity of mind.

The nice thing about a deck arch (like Datong Road Bridge) is that there are no arch ribs sticking up from the deck or blocking one's view. The problem with deck arches is that they require competent soil and expensive foundations to resist the axial force of the arch ribs.

In today's photo we are looking east, back towards Wuzhen Road Bridge, downtown Shanghai, and the Pudong District. It may seem a little odd to spend several weeks studying bridges across a little creek, but much of Shanghai's history occurred here. Various imperialist powers lived along its banks, vied for the wealth of China, fought wars here, and left behind a strange and unique city and culture.

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Datong Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai China's Bridges: Wuzhen Road Bridge (2)

A view from the deck of Wuzhen Road Bridge. As I've mentioned previously, I was impressed by how relaxed and happy people are in Shanghai.

There's a concrete block protecting the arch rib at the sidewalk. Someone has written on the block a phone number for people to call who want a fake identity card. There are too many people moving into big cities and so the government issues ID cards to try to prevent this migration.

Note that the bridge has a second, interior barrier rail to protect the arch ribs and hangers from errant drivers. The outside barrier rail is decorated with wrought iron and the sidewalk is decorated with tiles.

Shanghai China's Bridges: Wuzhen Road Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Wuzhen and Datong Road Bridges

A closer view of the Wuzhen Road Bridge. We can see the Datong Road Bridge (a blue, single span deck arch) just below its soffit. Because Wuzhen Road Bridge is a tied arch, it sits on seat-type abutments. The Datong Road Bridge is a deck arch, which relies on the substructure to carry the longitudinal thrust, and requires diaphragm-type abutments. Both bridges have wide sidewalks and several traffic lanes.

Shanghai China's Bridges: Wuzhen and Datong Road Bridges by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Wuzhen Road Bridge

The next bridge upstream across Suzhou Creek is a single span through arch with tubular steel ribs.

The Wuzhen Road Bridge is about 60 m long and 20 m wide. Like the Xizang Road Bridge, it has ramps that carry vehicles onto the bridge and stairways that carry pedestrians from the quays onto the bridge.

Suzhou Creek has an interesting history. In 1842 China was forced to open up to foreign trade. Shanghai became a major port and Suzhou Creek was used to bring goods out from China's interior. The banks became heavily industrialized and the water polluted. In 1998 the City of Shanghai began a project to revitalize the area. There was significant new construction as well as work to preserve historic structures. Pollution was stopped and parks and entertainment facilities were built along the creek.

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Wuzhen Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Xizang Road Bridge (2)

A photo of a busker playing the gehu on a stairwell of the Xizang Bridge. In contrast to most countries, there are very few panhandlers or street musicians in China. I don't know if this is because there are fewer poor people or because such activities are frowned upon.

In the United States, the underside of bridges and especially seat-type abutments are used as shelters by poor and homeless people. This usually is not a problem. When a bridge engineer needs to inspect a bridge, the residents are usually willing to temporarily move out of the way.

In folk tales, a villain, a troll, or even a monster might live under a bridge and prey upon unwitting travelers. This may have been a more successful occupation before people began traveling in fast-moving metal vehicles on well-maintained highways.

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Xizang Road Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Xizang Road Bridge

The next crossing over Suzhou Creek is the Xizang Road Bridge. It is a three span reinforced concrete bridge that was built in 1907 and widened in 2004 from 18 to 33 meters. Its about 80 m long and with less than 10 m vertical clearance above the creek.

Like several other Suzhou Creek crossings, the Xizang Road Bridge has decorated railings and tall spires at the piers. There are stairways to carry people onto the bridge and the approaches are ramped to carry vehicles onto the bridge.

As we continue to move west from the Huangpu River, the older buildings are left behind and we enter a more modern, commercial part of Shanghai.

Shanghai's Bridges: Xizang Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge (3)

Yet another view of the Zhejiang Road Bridge. The lenticular truss is supported on four stocky built-up members at the four corners of the bridge.

The bridge was put together with rivets, which has become something of a lost art. I read that when the City of Shanghai was rebuilding the Waibaidu Bridge (at the mouth of Suzhou Creek), they were able to find hundreds of older workers that were still expert riveters. Perhaps they also worked on rebuilding Zhejiang Road Bridge in the 1970s.

It appears that the vertical hangers attached to the top chord at the ends of the span are able to slide through the bottom chord and support the floor beams under the deck. The weight of the deck compresses the top chord which pushes the ends of the bottom chord farther apart which lifts up the deck in the middle of the span. However, this type of structure is rather flexible and causes large displacements when a heavy vehicle drives across the bridge. Perhaps that's why there is a 15 ton vehicle weight restriction on this bridge.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge (2)

Another view of the Zhejiang Road Bridge in Shanghai. In yesterday's photo, we saw the bridge was about 60 m long between the quay walls along Suzhou Creek. Although the bridge has very low vertical clearance, it doesn't appear to have been damaged from collisions with ships or from flood debris.

They were working along the quaywall when I visited in October. It looked like they had broken up a concrete wall (or the pavement?). It also looks like they were mixing portland concrete by hand. I wonder if construction is still done largely by hand in China?

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge

We previously looked at a lenticular truss bridge in Pittsburgh (Gustav Linderthal's 1883 Smithfield Street Bridge). This type of bridge became popular at the end of the 19th century. The top chord is like an arch that carries the deck in compression. The bottom chord is like a suspension cable that caries the deck in tension.

The Zhejiang Road Bridge was completed in 1908 and strengthened in 1975. It's a single span lenticular truss bridge across Suzhou Creek. It's only 15 meters wide and includes wide sidewalks and two narrow vehicular lanes.

This bridge, like the Zhapu Road Bridge, was featured in street scenes of Shanghai in the movie Empire of the Sun. That film did a nice job of showing the life of privilege of the colonialist families and the deprivation of the Chinese people prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

This photo provides a good view of Suzhou Creek. For many years the creek was highly polluted. The City of Shanghai looks at the creek as an important resource and has worked hard to clean it up. Today there are several species of fish, turtles, and other riparian creatures and the creek is no longer black and smelly.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhejiang Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Fujian Road Bridge

There is so much construction in this bend of Suzhou Creek that I'm a little uncertain which bridges are old, new, widened, or removed. There were no bridges until the 19th century and now there are 28 bridges across the creek, and many were built in the last few years.

Upstream of Henan Road Bridge was a temporary pedestrian bridge that was constructed while the Henan and Fujian Bridges were being replaced. That bridge is now gone and so I didn't include a photo of it.

The new Fujian Road Bridge was completed in 2008. It's 94 m long three span bridge with haunched reinforced concrete girders, probably to match the arched style (historic and current) of the other bridges across this part of Suzhou Creek. It appeared to be used exclusively by cyclists and pedestrians when I took this photo (in October 2008), but its a very wide bridge and so it will probably carry vehicles as well.

Shanghai's Bridges: Fujian Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Henan Road Bridge

As Shanghai continues to grow, existing bridges are being widened and new bridges are being built across Suzhou Creek. The 100 year old Henan Road Bridge has been reconstructed to make room for a subway tunnel and to add two traffic lanes. The work began in 2006 and was completed in August 2009.

The rebuilt bridge will be 29 m wide, which is 10.5 m wider than the old bridge. Because the creek is only about 50 m wide, many feel that the new Henan Road Bridge ruins the environment along the creek. I know that when I walk under a very wide bridge, I feel like I'm walking through a tunnel.

The new bridge is 355 m long and connects Beijing East Road along the south side of the creek to Tiantong Road along the north side of the creek. The original bridge had arches over the river, spires over the piers, and a floral pattern along the barriers. The new bridge maintains these architectural features.

Shanghai is building or rebuilding many wide bridges over the Suzhou Creek. The new Qilianshan Road Bridge has a width of 38 meters and is the widest bridge over Suzhou Creek. Older bridges like the Waibaidu and Zhejiang Road Bridges are under 20 m wide.

Shanghai's Bridges: Henan Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Sichuan Road Bridge

Upstream from Zhapu Road Bridge is the Sichuan Road Bridge. It is a three span reinforced concrete, closed spandrel arch bridge over Suzhou Creek in downtown Shanghai. It has some nice architectural features like spires at the top of the piers and cutwaters at the bottom of the piers. In practical fashion, street lamps have been hung from the top of the spires.

Sichuan Road north of Suzhou Creek began to grow after it was paved and the first bridge was built across the creek in 1860. It is now a major commercial and financial center in Shanghai.

Shanghai's Bridges: Sichuan Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhapu Road Bridge

Continuing upstream along Suzhou Creek (in downtown Shanghai) is the Zhapu Road Bridge. It's a three span closed-spandrel arch bridge. I'm not sure how old it is, but I believe it predates WWII. At least Steven Spielberg filmed the bridge in his first WWII movie, Empire of the Sun.

The 17 m wide bridge was used mostly by pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists until nearby bridge repairs and tunneling operations caused more vehicular traffic to drive onto the bridge.

So much of Shanghai has been rebuilt in the last few years, that when I used a guidebook to look around the Old City, I found most of it was gone. Hopefully, the graceful Zhapu Bridge isn't also scheduled for demolition.

Shanghai's Bridges: Zhapu Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Wusong Road Bridge

I wanted to photograph the Waibaidu Bridge across the mouth of Suzhou Creek in downtown Shanghai. It is a steel truss bridge that was built by the English in 1908. Unfortunately, after 100 years of use the bridge had been removed to Pudong for strengthening. It has since been restored, and photos and more information on this historic bridge can be obtained on Wikipedia as well as other websites.

The next bridge upstream across Suzhou Creek is the Wusong Road Bridge. It is a steel girder bridge built in 1991 to carry the increased traffic along the Bund (the former international settlement in Shanghai) that the Waibaidu Bridge could no longer handle. However, the Wusong Road Bridge is supposed to be removed in 2011 after a tunnel is completed in the area.

Anyway, this photo (looking east) shows the Monument to the People's Heroes as well as many famous structures across the Huangpu River in the Pudong District.

Shanghai's Bridges: Wusong Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Xupu Bridge (2)

One last look at the Xupu Bridge. I said that all the Huangpu crossings have stairs or elevators that can take pedestrians onto the deck. However, I don't think I found either a quick way onto the deck nor a green park or garden along the riverbank at the Xupu Bridge. It's way out in the suburbs, on a long viaduct, and it has a more impersonal feel than the other Huangpu crossings. Still, it's a nice looking bridge with a pointed cap atop the towers and with green awnings and the bridge's name emblazoned on the tower struts.

There's another cable[stayed bridge being built even further upstream across the Huangpu, but I didn't have a chance to visit it when I was last in Shanghai (in October 2008).

Shanghai's Bridges: Xupu Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Xupu Bridge

Between Xuhui and Pudong Districts, across the Huangpu River in Shanghai, is the Xupu Bridge. It's about seven kilometers upstream from the Lupu Bridge and it was completed in 1997, a few years after the Yangpu bridge.

The Xupu Bridge makes an interesting contrast to the Yangpu and Nanpu cable stayed bridges. They had A-shaped and H-shaped towers made of structural steel. The Xupu Bridge has an A-shaped tower but it's made of reinforced concrete.

I wonder what percentage of cable-stayed bridges have reinforced concrete towers? I know of a few that are reinforced concrete with a stainless-steel shell, but a grey concrete A-shaped tower looks interesting and possibly unique.

The main span is 590 m long, making it a little longer than the Lupu Arch Bridge. It has two towers and two shorter side spans. The superstructure is made of steel girders fastened to a concrete deck to form a composite (steel to concrete) structure. Like the other bridges across the Huangpu River, the Xupu Bridge was designed by the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute. It was built by the Shanghai Foundation Engineering Company.

Shanghai's Bridges: Xupu Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (4)

This is the view looking north at the Luwan District of Shanghai from the top of the eastern arch of the Lupu Bridge. Although the main arch is 550 m long, it is also part of a 3,900 m long viaduct. A long viaduct is necessary to bring the approach high enough so the arch bridge can avoid river traffic and also to allow traffic to speed above city streets on an elevated expressway.

Construction activity is going at a rapid pace under the bridge as Shanghai prepares for the 2010 World Exposition. Hopefully, all of the effort and money spent on this 'World's Fair' will bring rewards to the people of China and the people of Shanghai. My impression was that the sacrifices for last year's Olympics in Beijing were not sufficiently appreciated or of much benefit to the people of China. I guess such sacrifices are a part of the process of opening up Chinese society to the world.

I know for myself that in the past I was never invited to visit China as an engineer, while I was frequently invited to attend conferences during the great economic boom in Japan. Now, I'm often invited to attend conferences, workshops, and symposiums, and to talk to my Chinese peers.

This is the first bridge that I have shown with four different photographs on my blog. I guess the Lupu Bridge is a little like an elephant. It looks like a totally different creature, depending on where you are standing and what you are looking at.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (4) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (3)

Another view of the Lupu Bridge. This photo was taken from the manicured park on the east riverbank.

This bridge is a basket-handle arch, which means the two arch ribs are inclined towards each other. It makes the arch more stable and more resistant to transverse loads. The arches are supported by large pile caps that carry the dead load, live load, wind load, etc. and a portion of the thrusting action of the arches. However, tied cables and stiffened girders at the deck level carry most of the thrust.

It looks like a painter's traveler is tucked behind the arch under the deck. You can see the steel rails under the deck that support the traveler. A big expense of steel bridges is keeping them primed and painted. I'm not sure why the large ship is parked under the bridge unless it is also used to help maintain the bridge.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (2)

A few kilometers upstream from where yesterday's photo was taken is the Lupu Bridge. This is the bridge I showed when I started my blog on January 26, 2009.

The City of Shanghai had to design and build the world's longest arch bridge in order to cross the wide Huangpu Bridge. While a cable-stayed or suspension bridge can easily span 550 m, this is currently the maximum length for the main span of an arch bridge. However, a bridge in Dubai with a main span of 667 m will be completed in 2012.

The Lupu Bridge is a three span, half-through, tied-arch design. This type of arch bridge was chosen because the soft soil wouldn't be able to support the large thrust of a through arch. Temporary towers were built to support each side of the arch with cables until the final segment joined the two halves together. Cable ties at deck level carried the thrusting action of the arch. The tension in the cables was adjusted before and after the orthotropic deck was built. A good report on the design and construction of this bridge was written by Yue Guiping of the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design General Institute.

Shanghai's Bridges: Lupu Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Nanpu Bridge (2)

Another look at the Nanpu Bridge. It was the first bridge across the Huangpu River in Shanghai and it's a little smaller than the Yangpu Bridge, which was built two years later. The Yangpu has a main span of 602 m and the towers are 223 m tall. The Nanpu has a main span of 423 m and towers that are only 150 m.

The two bridges are about ten km apart on either side of a big bend in the river. The two tunnels that go under the river are between these two bridges.

You can see a tall building beside the bridge that carries pedestrians on and off the bridge deck. All of the bridges across the Huangpu have these towers surrounded by parks with gardens and benches.

Shanghai's Bridges: Nanpu Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Nanpu Bridge

The Nanpu Bridge was the first bridge to cross the Huangpu River in Shanghai. It's a cable-stayed bridge with a main span length of 423 m (1400 ft). It was designed by the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design with technical review from Buckland and Taylor and completed in 1991.

Some rivers are the right width for arch bridges (like the Seine), some need a suspension bridge like the Hudson, and some are just right for a cable-stayed bridge like the Huangpu.

Instead of elongated A-shaped towers like on the Yangpu Bridge, the Nanpu Bridge has two H-shaped towers and a semi-fan arrangement of cables.

Shanghai's Bridges: Nanpu Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Yangpu Bridge (2)

Another look at the Yangpu Bridge. The towers are nicely detailed and include stylized dragon heads at the top. They were painted red for the millennium.

It appears that the superstructure is supported by large steel bearings at the towers. The bearings would have to handle quite a bit of movement due to thermal expansion and contraction of the superstructure.

Until the 1990s, there were no bridges across the Huangpu River in Shanghai (there were two tunnels). Then the Nanpu Bridge was built in 1991 and the Yangpu bridge was built two years later. Several more bridges across the Haungpu have now been built in response to the cities growth and increased prosperity. I wonder if cities build most of their bridges during a single period of economic expansion?

Shanghai's Bridges: Yangpu Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Shanghai's Bridges: Yangpu Bridge

After spending several weeks looking at bridge photos of New York City taken from a ferry, we are now looking at a bridge photo of Shanghai taken from a ferry. The ferries are an easier way of crossing the Huangpu River than walking over a bridge. Ferries cross at many points along the river, the fare is less than a yuan, and they cross the river in about five minutes.

The Huangpu River is 114 km (71 miles) long and runs from the Yangtze River to the East China Sea. Its about 400 m (1300 ft) wide, 9 m (30 ft) deep, and flows through Shanghai.

Shanghai is an interesting city. It was long dominated by Europe, conquered by Japan, and transformed after the war by the Cultural Revolution, and yet the people of Shanghai seem surprisingly relaxed and happy. The current population is about 20 million people (the population of New York City is under 10 million people).

We'll begin our examination of Shanghai bridges at a point several miles east of the Bund (the former European part of the city). The Yangpu Bridge crosses the Huangpu River between the Yangpu District in Puxi and the Pudong New Area. It has six lanes and carries 100,000 vehicles a day (The George Washington Bridge across the Hudson has 14 lanes and carries 300,000 vehicles a day).

The center span is 602 m (1975 ft) and the towers are 223 m (732 ft) tall. Vertical clearance for ships is about 48 m (158 ft). The entire viaduct is several km long, but the cable-stayed portion is 99m - 144m - 602m -144m - 99m.

The bridge was completed in 1993 by the City of Shanghai with technical review by Holger S. Svensson. It was built by the Shanghai Huangpujiang Bridge Engineering Construction Company. It is a steel, cable stayed bridge with towers shaped like elongated letter A's (there's hopefully a better name for that shape). The cables are in what is called a semi-fan arrangement, which means the cables are attached high and close together on the towers and they aren't parallel. The deck is stiffened by relatively shallow plate girders. It has a composite (steel to concrete) deck.

Shanghai's Bridges: Yangpu Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

New York City's Bridges: George Washington Bridge (2)

One last look at New York City (well, New Jersey actually) and the George Washington Bridge. This photo (taken in 2002) shows preparations for painting the bridge's west tower. The tarp around the scaffolding may be required to prevent lead-based paint from entering the river. The steel towers are composed of arches above and below the bridge deck. The green cliffs behind each tower makes the bridge more attractive.

Note that two suspension cables hang from the top of each tower leg. The 107,000 miles of steel wire used for the suspension cables were manufactured by John Roebling & Sons, whose founder had designed the Brooklyn Bridge. Contractors were allowed to bid the job with either suspension cables or with suspension chains, which seems unthinkable now.

When the bridge was first built, the deck was supported by very thin (twelve-foot deep) plate girders under the roadway. The theory was that the enormous mass of the long deck would act as a stiffener to prevent large movements during windstorms. It may have been fortunate therefore, that they later put a lower deck on the bridge with a deep truss.

We've looked at every river crossing connected to Manhattan, but there are many other interesting bridges in the area. The Bayonne Bridge (1931), the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (1939), the Throgs Neck Bridge (1961), and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (1964) were all designed by Othmar Ammann during the golden age of bridge engineering for New York City.

New York City's Bridges: George Washington Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

New York City's Bridges: George Washington Bridge

In contrast to the East and Harlem Rivers, there is only one bridge that crosses the Hudson River to Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge forms an important link in I-95/US-1 that speeds vehicles across the Hudson and through the most congested part of Manhattan. The bridge connects Fort Lee in New Jersey to the Washington Heights area of Manhattan. It was named after George Washington who unsuccessfully tried to prevent the British from entering Manhattan. After he failed, he quickly crossed from Fort Washington to Fort Lee where the bridge now stands.

The George Washington Bridge is an iconic landmark because of its huge skeletal towers. The design originally called for the towers to have a granite facade, but this was eventually abandoned, perhaps because the bridge was built during the Great Depression. When it was completed in 1931, it doubled the record for the longest suspension bridge with a main span of 3500 ft and with towers that were 650 ft tall. The Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1883 with a main span of 1600 ft and 280 ft towers. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge was built in 1998 with a main span of 6500 ft and 930 ft towers.

The George Washington Bridge is owned by the Port Authority of New York, designed by Othmar H. Ammann, and with architectural support from Cass Gilbert. The bridge originally had six vehicle lanes and sidewalks. In 1946 two additional lanes were added in the middle of the deck. A lower deck was added in 1962, which gave the bridge a total of fourteen lanes (the most on any bridge) and allowing it to carry about 300,000 vehicles a day.

New York City's Bridges: George Washington Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.