World's Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge Opens
The Tatara Ohashi Bridge, one of the ten bridges built over the Onomichi-Imabari route linking Honshu and Shikoku islands in western Japan, opened to traffic in May. The 1,480m-long bridge is the world's longest cable-stayed bridge with a center span of 890 meters, exceeding that of France's Normandy Bridge, the previous record-holder, by 34 meters. As a participant in the joint ventures to build the bridge, NKK undertook fabrication and installation of a 220m-high reversed Y-shape steel tower, steel wire cables in two planes and steel box girders on the Ehime Prefecture side of the structure. The Tatara Ohashi Bridge forms part of the 60km-long Setouchi Shimanami Kaido expressway, the third route to cross the Seto Inland Sea. The opening of the third route marks the completion of a large-scale, 24-year-old project by the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority to construct a total of 18 major bridges over three routes and bring economic benefits to the regional islands. NKK has actively participated in the project by building a number of bridge superstructures and foundations. |
