Wanzhou Yangtze River Bridge: Construction and Opening to Traffic

Known as Wanxian Yangtze River Bridge during construction, the bridge carries National Highway 318 across the Yangtze locally. In an interview, former deputy construction commander Ou Changgeng recalled that highway vehicles previously waited at ferry terminals. When services stopped, traffic could no longer pass continuously between the banks. The project primarily addressed highway continuity and connections between the two parts of the city.

The interview dates the formal start of construction to 28 May 1994. Work advanced from both banks over more than three years, followed by completion and opening to traffic as separate stages. The later name Wanzhou Yangtze River Bridge and the name Wanxian Yangtze River Bridge used in engineering papers refer to the same concrete arch with a 420-meter clear span.

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The options examined included suspension, cable-stayed, prestressed concrete rigid-frame and arch bridges. A single-span concrete arch was chosen to use the terrain on both banks and reduce work on foundations in the river and exceptionally high piers. The main arch has a clear span of 420 meters and a rise of 84 meters. Its three-cell box section is 16 meters wide and 7 meters deep; the deck accommodates four traffic lanes and sidewalks on both sides.

The foundations were designed to receive the thrust at the arch ends. Piles beneath the arch bases carry vertical loads, while massive structures behind them resist horizontal reactions. The span arrangement and the foundation load paths together formed the crossing design.

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The main arch uses a rigid skeleton of concrete-filled steel tubes. A load-bearing framework is assembled first and then encased within the concrete arch ring. During construction it supports formwork and fresh concrete; afterward it remains inside the completed structure. The arch therefore does not require temporary supports extending beneath the entire river crossing.

Chen Baochun and colleagues classify Wanxian as a Melan arch bridge using a conventional concrete-filled steel-tube arch framework. The skeleton primarily serves construction, while the finished arch remains a concrete structure. Material choices also required coordination of erection weight, skeleton stiffness and subsequent casting loads; the construction method cannot be understood solely from the finished bridge’s appearance.

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Once the skeleton formed an arch, C60 concrete was pumped into the steel tubes before external concrete encasement. The box arch was cast in eight stages, combining work on the central and outer cells and on the bottom slabs, webs and top slabs. Six working segments were also defined along the arch axis. Spandrel columns and the deck followed completion of the arch ring.

The analysis by Liu, Li and Roddis examines this self-shored construction process. Its model incorporates time-dependent concrete behavior, nonlinear steel and concrete response, and the effects of structural deformation on internal forces. Researchers compared casting arrangements computationally and checked calculated results against measured stresses and displacements, supporting control of deformation and stability during construction.

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Completing a 420-meter concrete arch required cooperation between design institutes, contractors and universities. The Ministry of Science and Technology’s award directory names the Highway Planning, Survey and Design Institute of the Sichuan Provincial Transport Department, Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, Chongqing Jiaotong College, Southwest Jiaotong University and Sichuan University as principal organizations in the bridge’s design and construction research.

Engineers and researchers included Xie Bangzhu, Li Wenqi, Yang Zhihua, Gu Anbang, Xie Youfan, Liu Zhong and Zhao Lei. The work received the 2000 State Science and Technology Progress Award, First Prize, under the title “Research on Design and Construction Techniques for the Wanxian Yangtze River Bridge’s Extra-Large-Span (420 m) Reinforced Concrete Arch.” The award covered a coordinated body of design and construction research.

References: [5]

The chronology accompanying the participant interview distinguishes completion on 20 June 1997 from opening to traffic on 28 June. Vehicles could then cross directly between the old Wanzhou urban area and Wuqiao. In a 2019 interview, bridge management recalled an initial daily traffic volume of roughly 3,000–4,000 vehicles.

A 2023 bridge study identifies Wanxian as the first reinforced concrete arch bridge with a span exceeding 400 meters and notes that later projects surpassed its record. The 1997 project combined a steel-tube skeleton, staged concrete construction and a Yangtze highway crossing, providing an example for subsequent arch bridge research.

References: [1] [6]