China Expressways, Highways: News & Discussions

[ahojunk]

World’s highest bridge - Beipanjiang Bridge

A bridge towering nearly 200 storeys above Beipanjiang Canyon is located in China's Guizhou Province.

Standing 565 metres tall, the Beipanjiang Bridge has overtaken Sidu River Bridge as the world's highest. The latter is located at central China's Hubei Province, with a 560m height.

The bridge, which is just over 1.3 kilometres in length, cuts travel time from Shuicheng city in Guizhou to Xuanwei city in neighbouring Yunnan Province from four hours to one. The bridge is a critical part of a trans-provincial expressway project stretching more than 3,400km across seven Chinese provinces.

Below are some pictures.

The Beipanjiang Bridge looks like it is floating in the air.

It is so high up that it is going through the clouds. To enjoy the scenery, choose a day that is not misty or foggy.

The bridge on a beautiful day. Simply gorgeous!

On a foggy/cloudy day. Great to travel through it but you won't see the surrounding scenery.

On a clear day, it's beautiful.

The iconic image of Beipanjiang Bridge, the world's highest bridge.

Such a beauty!

There are tourist spots to admire all its glory.

 

[AndrewJin]

World’s highest bridge - Beipanjiang Bridge

A bridge towering nearly 200 storeys above Beipanjiang Canyon is located in China's Guizhou Province.

Standing 565 metres tall, the Beipanjiang Bridge has overtaken Sidu River Bridge as the world's highest. The latter is located at central China's Hubei Province, with a 560m height.

The bridge, which is just over 1.3 kilometres in length, cuts travel time from Shuicheng city in Guizhou to Xuanwei city in neighbouring Yunnan Province from four hours to one. The bridge is a critical part of a trans-provincial expressway project stretching more than 3,400km across seven Chinese provinces.

Below are some pictures.

View attachment 372919
The Beipanjiang Bridge looks like it is floating in the air.

View attachment 372920
It is so high up that it is going through the clouds. To enjoy the scenery, choose a day that is not misty or foggy.

View attachment 372921
The bridge on a beautiful day. Simply gorgeous!

View attachment 372922
On a foggy/cloudy day. Great to travel through it but you won't see the surrounding scenery.

View attachment 372923
On a clear day, it's beautiful.

View attachment 372924
The iconic image of Beipanjiang Bridge, the world's highest bridge.

View attachment 372926
Such a beauty!

View attachment 372928
There are tourist spots to admire all its glory.

wow, this place will become very popular among tourists.

 

[AndrewJin]

Expressways in Northwest China's Shannxi Province

Shaanxi is a poor mountainous province located in northwest China,far from the ocean. The expressways in Shaanxi are featured by many long tunnels, including world longest expressway tunnel——18km long Zhongnanshan tunnel; world's longest 6 lane expressway tunnel——15.56km Tiantaishan tunnel(under construction);world's longest tunnel group——Qinling tunnel group,etc. Why do people build much more tunnels than bridges in Sha'anxi because people there live in valleys who need tunnels to connect each valley. But there are also many high bridges in Shaanxi,mostly beam bridges, such as Sanshuihe bridge with 183m pier. From this video 3:14-3:19 we can see a conventional high beam bridge. At 2:20 and 11:45 we can view the famous mountain Huashan
陕西省位于中国西北内陆。陕西高速公路的特色是隧道众多，包括世界最长的高速公路隧道——终南山隧道（18公里）；世界最长的六车道高速公路隧道——天台山隧道（15.56公里，在建）；世界最长西汉高速公路秦岭隧道群等。所以和西南高速公路不同，因为在陕西人口聚居在河谷，山脉分隔开众多河谷，所以隧道远比桥梁为多。当然陕西的高速公路仍有许多高桥，绝大部分是梁桥，最高的是桥墩高183米的三水河大桥。陕西有许多6车道高速公路，从这视频3:14-3:19秒能看到一座典型陕西高墩梁桥。2:20秒前后和11:45秒前后是著名的西岳华山:

 

[AndrewJin]

Beijing-Kunming Expressway/Shaanxi section

A video about driving on the mountainous section in Shannxi Province, Northern China

Beijing–Kunming Expressway is highlighted in red.

G5 National Expressway (Beijing-Kunming) is one of the longest expressway in the world, stretching all the way from Beijing in the North via Northwest to the mountainous Southwest, totalling 2800+km in length. It is the shortest route from the national capital to the provincial capital city of the Province of "South of Clouds".

The most charming section might be the Ya'an-Xichang section in Sichuan Province of Southwest China with crazy spiral tunnels and bridges dubbed as the "expressway in the sky".
Pls refer to page 2, page3

 

[AndrewJin]

Scenery in Haikou City near the Century Bridge
The provincial capital of the tropical Hainan Island

 

[AndrewJin]

This is the 3rd largest city in my province, a city thriving on dams

Aerial view Yichang city & Numerous Yangtze River Bridges

Yichang is the 3rd largest city in Hubei province, in this small city there are 10 spectacular Yangtze river bridges, from upstream to downstream

6:40 Yichang's High-speed Railway terminal

@powastick @Jlaw @terranMarine @Gibbs @Zain Malik @Godman

 

[AndrewJin]

The Largest Stone Arch in The World——Danhe Bridge

The Danhe arch bridge is special not so much for its 90 meter height but for its main span length of 146 meters which is a world record for any stone or masonry bridge. China has the world's 20 longest stone arch bridges and with labor costs increasing rapidly in China, Danhe will probably remain the longest span bridge of its type forever. China is the only country in the world still constructing arch bridges with stone blocks.

Despite the reputation such bridges have for being on smaller, less traveled two lane roads, the Danhe Bridge was designed and built to carry heavy traffic across a modern 4-lane expressway. The bridge is 24.8 meters wide with an arch that rises 32.444 meters. The arch ring has a variable depth of 3.5 meters at the base to 2.5 meters at the crown. The total length of the bridge is 413.7 meters with 8 spans of 2x30 + 146 + 5x30 meters. The stones were used for the main arch ring in layers 36cm to 60cm deep. The total number of stone blocks amounted to 34,409 for the arch ring. The main rib supports 14 spandrel spans with a wall to wall distance of 31 feet (9.4 meters). The massive span was constructed upon a huge steel scaffold-like centring. The bridge is located about 15 miles (24 kms) east of Jincheng in Shanxi Province.

In 2009 a reservoir formed beneath the bridge from a downstream dam.

 

[AndrewJin]

Yinzuotianmeng Scenic Area, Shandong Province
Including 420m span,143m high Yinzuotianmeng Footbridge
沂蒙山银座天蒙风景区

@eldarlmari @TaiShang @Götterdämmerung @Godman @Keel

 

[ahojunk]

Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in north China
2017-02-13 09:13 | Xinhua | Editor: Li Yan

Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

 

[AndrewJin]

Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in north China
2017-02-13 09:13 | Xinhua | Editor: Li Yan

View attachment 376733
Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

View attachment 376735
Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

View attachment 376736
Photo taken on Feb. 12, 2017 shows the Gehetou photovoltaic power generation station in Qinhuangdao, north China. Grid-connected new energy capacity, including wind power and solar power, has reached 12.81 million kilowatts in northern regions of Hebei as of the end of 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

Dunhuang Concentrated Solar Power Station

Concentrated solar power (also called concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal, and CSP) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power generator or powers a thermochemical reaction (experimental as of 2013). Heat storage in molten salts allows some solar thermal plants to continue to generate after sunset and adds value to such systems when compared to photovoltaic panels. Because of these advantages, concentrated solar power is the most possible future energy which can replace fossile energy. Now this concentrated solar power research centre is the biggest in the world, located in Dunhuang city, Gansu province. China has two such experimental stations for the moment.

光热电站是利用反射镜将太阳光能转换为热能，再用热能推动常规蒸汽轮机发电的电站。和光伏电站相比，光热发展有三个无可比拟的优势：
1，由于先把光转换成热，热量可以用廉价低熔点熔盐储存，光热电站可以一年365天不分白天黑夜连续稳定发电，光伏电站只能在有光照的时间发电。
2，光热转化效率可轻易达到90%，热电转化效率也能达到40%左右，光热电站效率能达到36%，光伏电站对光能转化效率目前最高不超过20%
3，光热电站使用常规蒸汽轮机，发电之余可以和火电站、核电站一样提供高温蒸气供工业使用，进一步提高效率。热电联供的光热电站整体效率能达到60%以上，而光伏电站无法提供热蒸汽。

因为以上优势，光热电站普遍被认为是最有前途的未来科技，唯一可能完全取代现有化石能源的新能源（风能、光伏等都有发电不稳定难以储存的致命伤）。光热发电兴起时间很短，原先以西班牙、美国为发展中心，在政府大力推动下，光能丰富的中国西北已成为世界光热电站的最大聚集地。国际普遍看好中国最有可能首先取得突破，价格降低到无需补贴的水平。国内已选定青海德令哈、甘肃敦煌两个光热电站示范区，这个光热电站位于甘肃省河西走廊西端名城敦煌市郊外的戈壁滩上。

 

[MULUBJA]

Beijing-Kunming Expressway/Shaanxi section

A video about driving on the mountainous section in Shannxi Province, Northern China

View attachment 374851
Beijing–Kunming Expressway is highlighted in red.
View attachment 374850

G5 National Expressway (Beijing-Kunming) is one of the longest expressway in the world, stretching all the way from Beijing in the North via Northwest to the mountainous Southwest, totalling 2800+km in length. It is the shortest route from the national capital to the provincial capital city of the Province of "South of Clouds".

The most charming section might be the Ya'an-Xichang section in Sichuan Province of Southwest China with crazy spiral tunnels and bridges dubbed as the "expressway in the sky".
Pls refer to page 2, page3

View attachment 374849

This looks awesome.

 

[AndrewJin]

空中自行车

2017年1月26日，市民骑着自行车在体验空中自行车道。 黄少毅 摄

2017年1月26日，全国首条空中自行车道——厦门云顶路自行车快速道示范段试运营，吸引市民前来体验。据悉，这条全程高架的空中自行车道全长7.6公里。

2017年1月26日，市民骑着自行车在体验空中自行车道。 黄少毅 摄

2017年1月26日，市民骑着自行车在体验空中自行车道。 黄少毅 摄

China's First Elevated Cycleway
Wins Recognition from Cyclists in east China City

China has been playing its catch-up with whatever that is good and useful to the general public since its opening-up for fast economic development. The latest such catching-up is an elevated cycleway in east China's Fujian Province. It is the first in the whole of the country.

The barrier-free cycleway stretches 7.6 kilometers to link up several of Xiamen City's shopping malls, residential clusters and industrial parks. Right under the city's Bus Rapid Transit road, the cycleway has passed its trial run and has since become an attraction to cyclists from the city and elsewhere of the country.

"It's always traffic jam everywhere. Cycling bypasses the jams and it saves time and fuel and doubles up as an exercise," commented one local resident.

Statistics show that during the trial run period from Jan. 26, between 3,000 and 5,000 cyclists have come each day to trial-run their bikes on this elevated cycleway which has lived up to their expectation arisen from the name of the cycleway. These cyclists claim to have felt the way of riding on clouds, just as the Chinese name of the cycleway suggests.

To guarantee the safety of cyclists, city authorities have set up a monitoring staff for the cycleway.

"We monitor the cycleway and try to prevent uncivilized behaviors from happening as soon as we find them. We'll send our staff to places where needs be," said Wei Jianlong, staff with the elevated cycleway service center of Xiamen Yunding Road. "Yunding" means in Chinese "on top of clouds". The cycleway is elevated six meters from ground.

 

[AndrewJin]

Liuzhou city Timelapse

Liuzhou is the second largest city in Guangxi Autonomous Region, located in SW China.
Guangxi is one of the poorest provinces in China.
There are many beautiful bridges across Liujiang River in Liuzhou:

 

[ahojunk]

Sky Airport in China——Cangyuan Washan airport
云南沧源佤山机场

Published on Jan 5, 2017
In southwest China becouse there have't flatland to build airport,many airport have to build on top of the mountain. This one located in Cangyuan county,Yunnan province. Each airport build on top of the mountain like Cangyuan Washan have to move hundreds meters high peak and dumping very deep gorge,this is another "sky airport"

If other complex terrain country such as Nepal use this kind of airports, perhaps Lukla airport will be more safety than now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangyua...
http://baike.baidu.com/view/9520917.htm
http://www.cnta.gov.cn/xxfb/hydt/2016...

 

[AndrewJin]

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The first expressway from Tibetan Prefecture of Sichuan Province to Chengdu City
Daduhe bridge uses DRONE to carry the pilot cable

The 2nd time use this method in China after Longjiang bridge.
Daduhe bridge (Xichang-Kangding Expressway) has a span of 1100m, 285m high, a suspension bridge.
Eventually, it will become a section of the epic Sichuan-Tibet Expressway decades later.

Crossing a wide reservoir from a downstream dam just north of Luding city, the giant Daduhe suspension bridge is the largest structure on the Ya'an to Kangding expressway. Like many of China's Westernmost highways, this extension from the G5 expressway came many years after the more populous cities had already been connected in northern and eastern Sichuan Province. The Kanding route was especially difficult to construct with an amazing 82% of the road on bridges or in tunnels.

Located at kilometer 99, the alignment chosen for the Daduhe Bridge resulted in an unusual design for the east end where the anchorages had to be placed high up inside the steep mountain slope. To avoid compromising the strength of the deep underground anchorage, the engineers split the east-west lanes apart into tunnels separated by more then 100 meters, keeping the alignment off to the sides of the cable anchorage. The deck of the Daduhe Bridge is approximately 235 meters above the full lake level or 280 meters to the original level of the Dadu River.

The construction of the truss will follow an unusual pattern first implemented on the Aizhai Bridge in Hunan Province where each truss piece will be pulled and rolled along with wheel bogies that travel along horizontal wires hanging from the suspender cables. The wheel bogies travel back to the cliff side staging area to carry another truss section out and the process repeats until the truss is completed.

Luding was already one of the most famous cities in Western China for its legendary chain bridge of 100 meters that ranked among the longest suspension bridges in the world since its completion in 1701. Several historic battles have taken place at or near the chain bridge due to its strategic importance, most notably during the Long March in 1935.

The Daduhe Bridge at Luding is one of at least a dozen major suspension bridges that have opened in China since 2009 that have span lengths of approximately a kilometer or longer and deck heights of 200 to 500 meters.