Dongxihe Bridge
Dongxihe Bridge
东溪河特大桥
Xujiazhen, Chongqing, China
948 feet high / 289 meters high
1,083 foot span / 330 meter span
2024
One of the highest bridges in Chongqing Province, the beautiful Dongxihe arch bridge is the most spectacular crossing along the Wuzhen Expressway between Wuxi and Zhenping cities. The dramatic leap between two forested cliffs was achieved by 330 meter span CFST concrete filled steel tubular ribs. The 506 meter long structure has 3x25 meter approach spans on either slope.
The eight large steel tubes that run along the underside of the Dongxihe arch were initially hollow. Once the arch was closed, concrete was pumped into these tubes from the bottom up. First used by the Chinese in 1990, they have refined and improved the technique and now use it on the majority of their steel arch bridges. Depending on the length of the span and the width of the bridge, different styles of tubing are used. For Dongxihe, they adopted an array of single tubes spaced apart from each other. Other configurations include dumbbells with two tubes closely connected, a mix of a dumbbell and single tubes such as was done on the Beipanjiang River Railway bridge or a tight cluster of tubes known as “multiple contiguous”. Once hardened, the concrete solidifies and stiffens the arch, improving the compressive strength of the entire structure.
The upper mountain highline was one of the longest ever built for a bridge with a span of 900 meters.
As there are several Chinese CFST (Concrete Filled Steel Tubular) bridges on this website, you may find the following in depth article to be informative.
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Early Dongxihe Bridge render with only two approach spans on either side.
Dongxihe Bridge satellite image.
Dongxihe Bridge location map.