Longtanhe Bridge

Longtanhe Bridge龙潭河大桥Langpingzhen, Hubei, China645 feet high / 197 meters high656 foot span / 200 meter span2009

Located about 50 miles (80 km) south of the famous 3 Gorges region of the Yangtze River in China’s mountainous Hubei Province, the Longtanhe bridge is one of the 10 largest concrete viaducts in the world. The cable stayed Millau Viaduct in France is the world’s largest viaduct overall. The 584 foot (178 mtr) tall piers are still among the 5 tallest in China.

Longtanhe is just one of several amazing structures on the last 300 mile (483 km) link of the 1,350 mile (2,175 km) long G50 West Hurong expressway that now connects Shanghai on the Pacific coast with the cities of Chongqing and Chengdu in the west. Bypassing the 3 Gorges region from Yichang in the east to the city of Zhongxian in the west, this 4-lane engineering marvel is home to Siduhe, one of the world’s 5 highest suspension bridges with a roadway 1,627 feet (496 mtrs) above the river and Zhijinghe, one of the highest roadway arch bridges in the world.

The G50 Expressway is also has more than half a dozen other bridges that exceed 500 feet (150 meters) in height including Mashuihe, another huge beam viaduct almost as large as Longtanhe. This more direct route bypasses one of the toughest and most mountainous stretches of the Yangtze River. What once took more than a day of travel on dangerous mountain roads or a Yangtze River boat can now be safely traversed in 5 hours.

The main span configuration of Longtanhe Bridge is 106+3x200+106 meters with approach spans of 40 meters. The main spans consist of a single-cell box with a depth of 12 meters over the piers and 3.5 meters at midspan. The main pier shafts have a slope of 100:1 and are supported on 16 piles with a diameter of 2.4 meters. The deck has a width of 12.5 meters.

Longtanhe Bridge Elevation

坐落在中国湖北省山区的长江三峡流域以南大约50英里（80公里）处的龙潭河大桥，是世界上最大的连续刚构体系的高架桥，这一纪录先前是有德国的科赫塔尔刚构高架桥。法国境内的米约大桥仍然是世界的最高的高架桥梁。

对于高架桥组成的定义可以是一个开放的讨论的内容，但是龙潭河大桥的结构形式是连续三跨相同的跨度的大桥，200米每跨，而不是仅仅有一个很大的中跨、两侧辅以相对很小的引桥。178米高的桥墩是中国最高，和德国的科赫塔尔大桥并位列世界第四高度。仅法国的米约大桥、墨西哥的埃尔卡里佐大桥和圣马科斯大桥有着更高的桥墩。词汇“Viaduct”也在意大利特高桥梁普拉塔诺高桥的名字中出现，但是其定义仅仅是用于引桥而非主桥。

龙潭河大桥仅仅是在沪蓉西高速公路西段最后300英里（483公里）路段上的那些令人惊叹咋舌的桥梁之一，而沪蓉线则是将太平洋西岸的上海与内地的重庆和成都等城市联系起来的交通大动脉。经由三峡库区，从东部的宜昌开始直到西部的忠县，这条4车道的工程师们造就的奇迹之路，是两座世界级高桥的“家”——桥面行车道在谷底河面之上473米的世界第一高度的四渡河大桥以及行车道高度位于世界第一的拱桥支井河大桥。这条奇迹之路上还有着6座高度超过150米的大桥，其中就有世界最高的梁式结构的高架桥梁——马水河大桥。这条更为直接的路线将与原先一条极为艰险、崎岖的长江流域的山区的一条公路线相并行。而原先需要一天的山区危险的车程或者长江上的航行，现在都能在5个小时之内实现。

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