Pont de Donghai
The bridge of Donghai () in China is, in the 2005, longest Pont of the world. It connects on 32,5 km - including 26 km uninterrupted above the sea - the town of Shanghai to the islands Yangshan, on which is being built the Port of Yangshan, largest port out of deep water of the world. It was inaugurated on February 1st 2005. 东海 ( Donghai in Chinese, donghae in Korean) means " sea orientale" , 洋山 ( Yangshan ) means " mountain of the océan".
Characteristics
- Length: 32,5 km
- Width: 31,5 m
- Ways: 6 lanes + 2 hard shoulders.
- Piles: 670 series separated by 50 m + 2 pylons.
- Apron: 670 portions measuring each one surface of 4 grounds of volleyball and weighing each one 1.600 tons with a margin of error during the installation of 5 Misters 100.000 tons of asphalts were used to cover it.
- principal Suspended bridge: Length 420 m, height of the turns 159 m and height under-apron 40 m: sufficient to make pass the ships of any tonnage.
- estimated Initial costs: 400 million euros, final cost 1,1 billion euros.
History of the project
After having exceeded the port of Rotterdam in 2003, that of Hongkong in 2004 and that of Singapore in 2005, Shanghai is from now on, thanks to the dynamism of China, the most important port of the world but completely blocked with an annual growth of its traffic of 30%.
In 2000/2001, it was decided to build new a port out of deep water on the islands Yangshan with broad of Shanghai. This new port having to be connected to the district of Guoyuan by a gigantic bridge on the open sea undulating on step less than 32,5 kilometers before achieving its goal, in order to follow the high funds able to support the foundations.
Whereas the first estimates had envisaged a normal seven time to eight years for this realization, work of foundation took place of the June 26th, 2002 to the September 16th, 2003, the structure itself was completed the May 26th, 2005, that is to say less than three years after the beginning of work, establishing a record of speed in the construction industry, in spite of winds, tides and hurricanes prevailing in the area. The work of completion - asphalts, equipment of indication and safety - themselves was completed fine November 2005.
This miracle with Chinese was made possible, thanks to a perfect organization and especially thanks to the number and with particular management of the labor employed. 6.000 workmen, engineers and technicians coming from the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and the Henan were employed on this gigantic building site. They worked and lived on the bridge and in its entrails, inside even of the immense metal beams - 59 m length, 6 m broad, 3,5 m in height - to 20 meters above the level of the floods, moving progress of the work progressively. Each one was entitled to a surface of 3,5 m2.
The average wages were of 1.000 yuans (approximately 110 euros), that is to say the double of the average wages in the sector of construction in China. Isolated, alive in a permanent moisture of 100 %, they did not have any leisure to spend their wages. Their day's work lasted 12 hours. According to one of the persons in charge of construction: “ If we had had to daily take along to ground the whole of the personnel, we would have undergone a considerable waste of time for the project. It was incompatible with the times desired by the authorities of the city. ”
External bonds
Photographs of the pont The port of Yangshan and the bridge of Donghai on the site of the university of Strasbourg