Huayudong Bridge Wins the “Gustav Lindenthal” International Bridge Award

Release time:

2022-04-07 14:45

Source:

At 2:33 p.m. EDT on April 4, 2022 (3:33 a.m. BJT on April 5, 2022), the International Bridge Conference (IBC) Bridge Awards. Awards Committee You’ve sent an email congratulating the Huayu Cave Bridge for standing out from a large number of outstanding candidate projects worldwide and winning the 39th International Bridge Conference. The Gustav Lindenthal Medal. The Gustav Lindenthal Medal is... International Bridge Conference (IBC) The Outstanding Achievement Award, established to recognize exemplary bridges, was awarded to the Huayudong Bridge. According to the award committee, the bridge has achieved remarkable accomplishments in areas such as bridge functionality, technological innovation, aesthetic value, harmony with the surrounding environment, and public engagement. This is the second time our company has received this award, following the Pingtang Bridge’s win in 2021. Consecutive win The International Bridge Award. The International Bridge Conference (IBC) will present the Huayu Cave Bridge with an award at its 39th Annual Convention, to be held on July 19, 2022, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gustavus Lindahl Award 。

The International Bridge Conference (IBC) is a prestigious academic conference hosted by the Western Pennsylvania Engineers’ Society in the United States, and it enjoys broad influence within the global bridge community. Established in 1988, the IBC Bridge Awards are presented annually and are widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize” of the bridge industry. Currently, the IBC offers a total of seven awards: the George Richardson Award, the Gustavus Lindenthal Award, the Eugene Figg Award, the Arthur Hayden Award, the Abba Lichtenstein Award, the Railway Bridge Award, and the Super Engineering Award. Since their inception, numerous world-class landmark bridges—including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in the U.S., the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong, the Wuhan Tianxingzhou Bridge, the Sutong Yangtze River Highway Bridge, the Xihoumen Bridge, the Rio-Antirrio Bridge in Greece, and the Millau Viaduct in France—have been honored with IBC Bridge Awards.

The Huayu Cave Bridge is located on the Guiyang section of National Highway G320, spanning the Hongfeng Lake Wetland Park and the drinking water source protection zone. In 2019, to enhance service levels and traffic capacity, the original 150-meter truss-composite arch bridge at its original site was demolished and rebuilt into an 180-meter mid-support steel tube concrete arch bridge. The project... Technological innovation, aesthetic value, harmony with the surrounding environment, and sustainability. It has outstanding achievements in three areas.

Technological innovation: The bridge is located within the Hongfeng Lake National Wetland Park and the Drinking Water Source Protection Zone, where environmental protection requirements—such as air quality, noise levels, vegetation conservation, and soil and water conservation—are exceptionally stringent. Adhering to the “ecological bridge construction” philosophy, the project creatively proposed a construction approach known as “building a new arch on the old bridge and dismantling the old bridge using the new arch.” Specifically, the new arches are positioned on either side of the existing bridge. During construction, the new arches are installed first, after which the old bridge is suspended from these new arches. The old bridge is then gradually cut section by section and dismantled in reverse order. This innovative method represents a new system for arch bridge demolition, and specialized supporting equipment was developed accordingly, resulting in a comprehensive set of construction technologies for “dismantling the old bridge using the new arches.” The project has been awarded nine national patents and two provincial- and ministerial-level construction methods. As a result, the construction period was shortened by 12 months, and project costs were reduced by 20% (RMB 22 million).

Aesthetic value and harmony with the surrounding environment: The bridge harmonizes beautifully with its surrounding environment and possesses distinctly typical aesthetic value. The new bridge features a variable-height, mid-support basket-handle arch with an inward inclination of 10°, resembling a stunning rainbow spanning across the shores of Hongfeng Lake. Its graceful silhouette reflects elegantly in the lake water, achieving a high degree of harmony and integration with the surrounding landscape. Since opening to traffic in June 2021, the bridge has yielded remarkable ecological and landscape benefits and has become a new landmark of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau’s scenic beauty.

Sustainable development: The project embodies the construction philosophy of “ecological bridge building,” repurposing the original bridge components—after they’ve been crushed—as roadbed fill material, thereby reducing carbon emissions by 15,000 tons and achieving “zero water pollution, zero disturbance to the scenic area, and reuse of waste materials.” The project has made remarkable achievements in both low-carbon and zero-carbon initiatives, meeting the highest standards of sustainable design.

This year’s Gustavus Award was presented to the Huayu Cave Bridge, which features a main span of 180 meters and a construction cost of 110 million yuan. The award highlights the bridge’s advanced technological content, environmental benefits, and aesthetic value, marking a new milestone in our company’s technical expertise in constructing bridges across mountainous canyons and propelling us steadily toward our vision of becoming an internationally renowned, domestically first-class integrated engineering technology service provider.