When designing a bridge, preference is often given to beam structure, unless it has a very long span. Simple in structure, convenient to fabricate and erect, easy to maintain, and with less construction time and low cost, beam structure has found wide application in bridgework. In 1937, over the Qiantang River, in the city of Hangzhou, was erected a railway-highway bi-purpose bridge, with a total length of 1453m, the longest span being 67m. When completed, it was a remarkable milestone of the beam bridges designed and built by Chinese engineers themselves before liberation. Since 1949, this kind of bridge has made great progress.

                                                           Qiantang River Bridge

Reinforced concrete beam structure is the most commonly used for short- and medium-span bridges. A representative masterpiece is the Yong Jiang Bridge completed in 1964 in the city of Nanning, the provincial capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The bridge, with a main span of 55m and the cross section of a thin-walled box with continuous cells, was designed in accordance with closed thin-walled member theory, the first of its kind in China.

 Yongjiang River Bridge, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Prestressed concrete beam bridge is a new type of structure. China began to make researches and develop its construction in the fifties. The first P.C. highway bridge was the Jingzhou Highway Bridge. The longest simply-supported P.C. beam which reaches 62m belongs to the Feiyun River Bridge in Ruan'an, Zhejiang Province, built in 1988.

Another example is the 4,475.09m Yellow River Bridge, built in the city of Kaifeng, Henan Province in 1989. 77 of its spans are 50m simply-supported P.C. beams and its continuous deck extends to 450m. It is also noticeable that the bridge is designed on the basis of partially prestressed concrete theory.

Jingzhou Highway Bridge

Feiyun River  Bridge, Zhejiang Province

 Kaifeng Yellow River Bridge, Henan Province

The prestressed concrete rigid T-frame bridge was primarily developed and built in China in the sixties. This kind of structure is most suitable to be erected by balanced cantilever construction process, either by cantilever segmental concreting with suspended formwork, or by cantilever erection with segments of precast concrete. The first example of cantilever erection is the Wei River Bridge (completed in 1964) in Wuling, Henan Province, while the Liujiang Bridge (completed in 1967) in Liuzhou in Guangxi Zhuangzu Autonomous Region is the first by cantilever casting. Nevertheless, the Yangtze River Bridge at Chongqing (completed in 1980), having a main span of 174m, is regarded as the largest of this kind at present. 

Wei River Bridge, Henan Province

Liujiang River Bridge, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Chongqing Yangtze River Bridge

On the basis of the design and construction of P.C. rigid T-frame bridges, was developed multi P.C. continuous beam and continuous rigid frame bridges, which can have longer spans and offer better traffic conditions. Among the others, the Luoxi Bridge in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province (completed in 1988) features a 180m main span. And the Huangshi Bridge crossing the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, which is still under construction, has a span of 245 meters. The extensive construction of continuous beam bridges has led to the application of incremental launching method especially to straight and plane curved bridges. Besides, large capacity (500t) floating crane installation and movable slip forms as well as span by span erection scheme have also attained remarkable advancement.

Luoxi Bridge, Guangdong Province

Huangshi Yangtze River Bridge, Hubei Province

In order to optimize the bridge configuration, to cut off the peak moment value at supports, and to diminish the constructional height, V-shaped or Y-shaped piers are developed for P.C. continuous beam, cantilever or rigid frame bridges. The prominent examples are the Zhongxiao Bridge (1981) in Taiwan Province and the Lijiang Bridge (1987) at Zhishan in the city of Guilin.

Zhongxiao Bridge, Taiwan Island

Lijiang Bridge, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Structure is employed primarily for railway-highway bi-purpose bridges. The longest steel highway bridge is the Beizhen Yellow River Bridge in Shandong Province (1972), its main span being 113m long. It has a rivet-connected continuous truss. The foundation is composed of f1.5m concrete boring piles, whose penetration depth into subsoil reaches 107m, the deepest pile ever drilled in our country.
 

Beizhen Yellow River Bridge, Shandong Province

A new structure of field bolting welded box girder paved with orthotropic steel deck was first introduced in the North River Highway Bridge at Mafang, Guangdong Province, which was completed in 1980. In 1957, in the city of Wuhan, over the Yangtze River was erected a railway-highway bi-purpose superstructure.

Mafang North River Bridge, Guangdong Province

Another milestone in China's bridge construction history is the bridge has a continuous steel truss with a 128m main span. The rivet-connected truss is made of No. 3 steel. A newly developed cylinder shaft of 1.55m in diameter was initially used in the deep foundation. (Later in 1962, f5.8m cylinder shaft foundation was laid in the Ganijang South Bridge in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.) In 1968, another wonder over the Yangtze River -the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge- came into being. The whole project, including its material, design and installation, was completed through the Chinese own efforts. It is a rivet-connected continuous truss with a 160m main span. The material used is high quality steel of 16 Mnq. In erection, deep water foundation was developed. Open caissons were submerged to a depth of 54.87m, and pretensioned concrete cylinder shafts 3.6m in diameter were laid, thus forming a new type of compound foundation. And subwater cleaning was performed in a depth of 65m.

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Hubei Province

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, Jiangsu Province

Another attractive and gigantic structure standing over the Yangtze River is the Jiujiang Bridge completed in 1992. Chinese-made 15 MnVNq steel was used and shop-welded steel plates 56mm thick were bolted on site. The main span reaches 216m. The continuous steel truss is enforced by flexible stiffening arch ribs. In laying the foundation, a double-walled sheet piling cofferdam was built, in which concrete bored pile cast-in-situ was set up. When erecting the steel beams, double suspended cable frame took the place of single one, which is another innovation.

Jiujiang River Bridge, Jiangxi Province