Underwater Tunnel

 The Aquaduct Veluwemeer is and underwater overpass located underneath a small part of lake Veluwemeer. Lake Veluwemeer is not a natural lake, it is one of several lakes that were formed in 1957 when the Flevopolder was created. The surface area of Lake Veluwemeer is over thirty kms, it is quite a shoolow like with an average depth of 1.55m. The lake connects the Netherlands mainland to the artificial island of Flevoland. Flevoland is the largest artificial island in the world. At least 28,000 vehicles travel via the Veluwemeer Aquaduct on a daily basis since it was first opened to traffic in 2002.

The Ringvaart (ring canal) is a canal located in the Netherlands in the province of North Holland. It is a circular canal which surrounds the Haarlemmermeer polder. It crosses the A4 highway via an aquaduct that was built in 1961. This is the oldest aquaduct in the Netherlands and the two newest portions of it were completed in 2006, it is now 1.8 kms long. The Ringvaart is used for both commercial and recreational boat traffic, the tunnel allows both road traffic and water traffic to co-exist as conveniently as possible.

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Kusma-gyadi Bridge, Nepal

Topmost and largest Suspension Bridge In Nepal. Villagers in Parbat district of Nepal couldn't believe when they first heard about this bridge that would connect district headquarter to rest of its VDCs through 344 meters long Kusma-Gyadi suspension bridge above 135 meters. After all, seeing is believing. Everyone benefited from this bridge specially the local commuters. Hours of walk is now reduced to few minutes.

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Longest Arch Bridge

According to Chongqing Evening News, the Chongqing Chaotianmen Yangtze River Bridge officially opened to traffic at 5:20 PM on April 29. Mayor of Chongqing Municipality Wang Hongju led the ribbon cutting ceremony for the world's longest arch bridge.

Along with a number of local residents, Bo Xilai, secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, and Huang Qifan, vice Mayor of Chongqing, were there to witness this historic moment.

Previously it took at least one to two hours to go from the north river bank to the south river bank by ferry or bus. With the completion of the new bridge, however, the commute now takes only five minutes.

The bridge, located at the confluence of the Yangtze and the Jialing rivers, consists of three parts and spans a total of 1,741 m in length. The bridge cost a total of 3.2 billion yuan (US$ 468.5 million).

The bridge is an important passageway connecting the central urban business regions on both banks of the Yangtze River. In just a short time, the bridge has already become the most famous landmark of Chongqing Municipality.

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Gateshead Millennium Bridge

 The Gateshead Millennium Bridge connects the south bank of Gateshead’s Quays and the north bank of the Quayside of Newcastle across the River Tyne. The design seems pretty simple and yet very elegant. The bridge is consisted of two stylish curves, one of which serves as a deck for pedestrians and cyclists, and the other one supports the first one. 

The architects, WilkinsonEyre.Architects received numerous awards for this bridge including the 2002 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize, the 2003 Gifford IStructE Supreme Award, and in 2005, the Outstanding Structure Award from International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), so it is bound to be stunning.

The two mentioned curves form a firm structure that rotates as a whole in order to let the vessels pass underneath. Six hydraulic rams, each equipped with an electric motor with the power of 55 kW, make the motion of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge possible.

It takes about four and a half minutes for the bridge to rotate fully and allow boats to pass through. Due to its size, even the curving of the walkway (that lengthens the distance between the banks from 105 m to 120 m) limits the height of the vessels that can safely pass underneath to 25 m. 

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An Architectural Marvel

Linking Marina Bay to Marina Centre, the Helix Bridge, is set to become Singapore’s next landmark. Located beside the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, alongside the vehicular Bayfront Bridge, it was officially opened on 24 April 2010 and is the world’s first curved bridge.

This 280-metre pedestrian linkway – the longest in Singapore – features a world’s first ‘double-helix’ structure, designed by an international design consortium, comprising of Australian architects Cox Group and engineers Arup, together with Singapore-based Architects 61. Inspired by the yin and yang concept in Asian culture, the architecturally unique bridge is said to bring wealth, happiness and prosperity to Marina Bay. 

The Helix Bridge is an engineering feat assembled with great precision. Its curved design is created by two opposing spiral steel members, held together by a series of connecting struts, symbolising “life and continuity”, “renewal”, “everlasting abundance” and “growth”,  and resembles the structure of DNA.

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Wonderful Fountain Bridge

Situated at Gangnam-gu, just beside Hangang River, lies in the middle of the busy city of Seoul - The Rainbow Fountain Banpo Bridge. This bridge is also a very famous place for film shooting. Some of the scenes in korean drama like "Daddy's Girl", "Iris", and "It's Okay" are also filmed here.

Situated at Gangnam-gu, just beside Hangang River, lies in the middle of the busy city of Seoul - The Rainbow Fountain Banpo Bridge. This bridge is also a very famous place for film shooting. Some of the scenes in korean drama like "Daddy's Girl", "Iris", and "It's Okay" are also filmed here."

This fountain bridge only operates at night.

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World's Highest Bridge

   

Siduhe River bridge is the latest Chinese champ to take the record as the highest bridge in the world with a roadway 1,627 feet (496 mtrs) above the water.it is the 3rd Chinese bridge in less than a decade to claim the title of “World’s Highest Bridge” and is a symbol of just how fast and how far China’s highway infrastructure has come in such a short period of time.The bridge is part of the new G50 Huyu Expressway that parallels China National Highway 318, an east-west route between Shanghai and Chengdu,crossing the wide belt of mountains that separate the Sichuan Basin from the lowlands of eastern Hubei.

Siduhe is so high that its closest rival in Mexico is over 100 meters lower. It is 672 feet (205 meters) higher than Colorado’s Royal Gorge bridge. The structure also has the unique distinction of being the only bridge in the world where a person falling from the deck can reach terminal velocity - the speed at which a falling object will no longer accelerate. With so many unprecedented superlatives, the Siduhe River bridge is unlikely to lose its lofty height record for sometime to come.

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Environment friendly bridge

Linn Cove Viaduct is a 379 m concrete segmental bridge which snakes around the slopes of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. It was completed in 1987 at a cost of $10 million and was the last section of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be finished.The viaduct was built to minimize the damage that a traditional cut-and-fill road would have caused to Grandfather Mountain. Supported by seven massive pillars, the viaduct almost floats in the air without disturbing the land below. To eliminate damage to the environment, no access roads were built for transporting heavy equipment on the ground.The bridge's segments were precast at an indoor facility at the south side of the parkway. After being transported to the bridge site, each section was lowered into place by a custom crane placed on either edge of the existing structure. The only work done at ground level was drilling for the seven footings which support the viaduct. In particular, there was no access road other than the Blue Ridge Parkway itself. The bridge has received eleven design awards.

The Linn Cove Viaduct is only the second bridge in history to be built from the end of a span, called a cantilever, which is anchored only at one end. In this case, the cantilever was the road itself. To protect the fragile terrain, all construction was done from the top down and no machinery was allowed more than 50 feet from the base of the piers.

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Stunning Bridge

The Goteik viaduct, located in Nawnghkio, is one of Burma’s most stunning engineering marvel. Built by the colonial British in the beginning of the 20th century, this spectacular railway bridge is the highest bridge in Myanmar and when it was completed, in 1900, it was the largest railway trestle in the world.

The viaduct stretches 689 meters from end to end supported by 15 towers. Many sources have put the height of the bridge at 250 meters. This is supposedly a measurement to the river level as it flows underground through a tunnel at the point it passes underneath the trestle. The true height of the bridge as measured from the rail deck to the ground on the downstream side of the tallest tower is 102 meters.

Although larger concrete viaducts and steel cantilever bridges were constructed before and after Gokteik, no other conventional box tower and girder type steel trestle has ever exceeded it in size except for the monstrous Lethbridge Viaduct in Alberta, Canada which is about the same in height but more than twice the length. The Joso bridge in the U.S. state of Washington, the Poughkeepsie bridge in the U.S. state of New York and the original Kinzua viaduct in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania are the only other traditional steel trestles that are equal in size to Gokteik.

Gokteik also had the tallest bridge piers in the world at the time of its completion at 97.5 meters. The current record is now held by France's Millau Viaduct at a record breaking height of 245 meters.

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Amazing Engineering !

The Oresund Bridge is a double-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Oresund strait between Scania (southernmost Sweden) and Denmark.The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The remainder of the link is by a 4 km (2.5 miles) tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager.The Oresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects two major metropolitan areas: Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the major Swedish city of Malmo. It connects the road and rail networks of Scandinavia with those of Central and Western Europe.

The justification for the additional expenditure and complexity related to digging a tunnel for part of the way, rather than raising that section of the bridge, was to avoid interfering with air traffic from the nearby Copenhagen International Airport, to provide a clear channel for ships in good weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait.

The Oresund Bridge received the 2002 IABSE Outstanding Structure Award.

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World's Tallest Bridge

The Millau Viaduct  is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure. It is the 12th highest bridge deck in the world, being 270 metres (890 ft) between the road deck and the ground below. Millau Viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Montpellier. Construction cost was approximately €400 million. It was formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004, and opened to traffic on 16 December.The bridge has been consistently ranked as one of the great engineering achievements of all time.The bridge received the 2006 International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering Outstanding Structure Award.

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Moses Bridge Splits Water

Ever wonder what it felt like to follow Moses? Well, though it's not the Red Sea, the Moses Bridge, located in the Netherlands, is quite the sight to see. Appropriately titled, the bridge gives visitors a truly unique experience when visiting a close 17th century fort. Designed by architecture group RO & AD, the bridge is constructed out of Accoya wood, a high technology wood that is supposedly harder and more durable than some of the best tropical woods. It is treated with a nontoxic anti-fungal coating.

From a distance, the Moses Bridge appears to vanish, allowing the viewer to see the flow of the moat uninterrupted. As one approaches though, the sunken bridge becomes apparent. It splits the waters allowing for a unique walk to the historic sight across the way. This bridge would be very cool to experience firsthand, though I think I would be just a little bit nervous when crossing the moat.

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Wooden Bridge, Netherland

Amsterdam is the largest and most visited tourist destination in the Netherlands. Developing since the 17th century into an economic superpower, Amsterdam is known for its cultural influence on the world.

Its rich architectural heritage radiates through the streets with a heavy mixture of modern and classical architecture.Yet the use of wood is seldom seen amongst the modern or classic construction. Due to a series of destructive fires in the 15th century, the use of timber as an architectural material was banned and only two wooden structures remain. Replaced with brick, Amsterdam’s architecture shows no material contrast, only generational.

Architect Laurent Saint-Val seeks to reclaim the forgotten wooden medium and showcase it in his modern bridge proposal.Taking into account the ancient use of the medium, he sought to illustrate a contemporary manipulation of timber in which its flexibility, sustainability and adaptive properties are unmatched by other materials.

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The Longest Bridge

The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the world's longest bridge.It is a 164.8 kilometres (102.4 mi) long viaduct on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

The bridge is located on the rail line between Shanghai and Nanjing in East China’s Jiangsu province. It is in the Yangtze River Delta where the geography is characterized by lowland rice paddies, canals, rivers and lakes. The bridge runs roughly parallel to the Yangtze River, about 5 to 50 miles south of the river. It passes through the northern edges of population centers (from west to east) beginning in Danyang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and ending in Kunshan. There is a 9-kilometre long (5.6 mi) section over open water across Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou.

It was completed in 2010 and opened in 2011. Employing 10,000 people, construction took four years and cost about $8.5 billion. Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge currently holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge in the world in any category as of June 2011.

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