From the Shanghaiist (here):
China has done it again, pushing architectural boundaries higher and higher. The Aizhai Bridge is a suspension bridge on the G65 Baotou-Maoming Expressway near Jishou, Hunan. It is the world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge with a main span of 1,146 metres and a deck height of 350 metres.
Construction began in October 2007 and was completed in Dec 2011 with the assistance of a $208 million load from the Asian Development Bank, cutting travel time from Jishou to Chadong from four hours to less than one hour.
According to Chen Mingxian, a renowned bridge expert and commander of the Aizhai bridge construction headquarters, the Aizhai Bridge bridges the Jishou-Chadong Highway with its steel truss girder bridge. Although it won't be not the highest bridge in the world by deck height (interestingly, this title also belongs to the Chinese, the Si Du River Bridge has a deck height of a staggering 496 metres), the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group and its partners created four No.1s (according to them) in the world architectural feats -- First, the construction of its 1,146m long main span suspension bridge that crosses its canyon; Second, the first use of a pylon and girder separation structure; Third, the first use of a rock anchor in suspension and the use of carbon fiber as its pre-stressed reinforcement material; and lastly, the first adoption of rail cable sliding techniques used to erect the steel truss girder.
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