The construction site of the south navigation span's north tower of Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge in Mazhou Island, Jingjiang. [Photo/zhjjwx.jsjjw.cn]
Construction on the Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge on Mazhou Island, Jingjiang, Taizhou, Jiangsu province, achieved a critical breakthrough on Sept 7, when the T26 segment of the south navigation span's north tower was installed at an altitude of 300 meters.
As China’s pioneering bridge spanning over 2,000 meters, the structure comprises dual navigation spans (north and south), three approach bridges, four main towers, and one auxiliary tower.
The north tower of the south navigation span is designed to reach 350 meters in height, approximately 125 stories, in a gate-shaped configuration, which would make it the world's tallest suspension bridge tower.
Weighing 254 metric tons and standing 13.5 meters tall, the recently hoisted T26 segment adopts a split double-block design.
Using a 15,000-ton-meter tower crane, the team leveraged prefabrication and digital building information modeling twin technology to achieve ±3mm precision alignment across three spatial dimensions despite high-altitude winds and extreme temperature variations.
The north tower employs a world-first steel box-steel tube concrete composite system, embedding four 3.6-meter-diameter steel tubes. This enhances load capacity by 30 percent while reducing tower weight by 50 percent, setting a global benchmark for two-kilometer-scale suspension bridges.
Upon completion, the bridge will connect the Shanghai-Xi'an expressway and Zhangjiagang Port expressway, reducing travel time between Zhangjiagang and Rugao from one hour to 20 minutes.