Mengdonghe Yongji Footbridge

Mengdonghe Yongji Footbridge
猛洞河特大桥
Gaopingxiang, Hunan, China
574 feet high / 175 meters high
1,266 foot span / 386 meter span
2015-2017

One of the longest construction footbridge spans ever constructed, the giant Mengdonghe Yongji Footbridge stretches 386 meters between anchorages. The 1.8 meter wide wood plank deck is supported by 6 parallel cables and was initially built to allow workers of the parallel expressway arch bridge to access both sides of the canyon.

Like many of China's gorges, this section of the Mengdonghe River is partially submerged under a deep reservoir making the footbridge approximately 150 meters high above full pool and approximately 175 meters above the original level of the Mengdong River.

The parallel Mengdonghe Yongji expressway bridge is a CFST or concrete filled steel tubular arch that Chinese engineers often use since they first applied the method in 1990 and is now common throughout China's western provinces, especially when crossing a deep gorge or ravine. The Mengdonghe Yongji and Mengdonghe Zhanghua are nearly identical arch bridges and both crossings had similar footbridges of great height and length during their construction.