Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, the longest double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River between Pukou and downtown, was the first heavy bridge solely designed and built by the country.

Straddled the Yangtze River in the northwestern Nanjing and connecting Pukou District with the downtown, Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed and opened for traffic in 1968. It was the first heavy bridge designed and built by China’s own technical strength, and therefore considered as one of the greatest accomplishments in 1960s. The bridge was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘the longest bridge with dual functions of highway and railway in 1960s.

Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge consists two parts, the main bridge and the approach bridge. The main bridge portion spans 1,557 meters and the approach bridge measures 3,012 meters. The upper deck of the bridge is for highway with 4,588 meters long and 19.5 meters wide. The lower deck is for railway with 6,772 meters long and 14 meters wide. The bridge carries approximately 80,000 vehicles and 200 trains per day.

Why to built

The Yangtze River forms a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China, which affects the development of the socialist economy. After the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual use rail-road bridge, was built with the help of Soviet from 1955 to 1957. Nanning Yangtze River Bridge, also a dual use rail-road bridge was built after the Sino-Soviet, from 1960 to 1968, did not receive foreign assistance. The construction of the bridge not only promote China’s economic development but also shows to the world the Chinese people’s strength and spirit.

What to visit

Nine Piers

The bridge has nine piers. Each pier is 50 meters high and the basal area is about 400 square meters, larger than a basketball court. The highest one is 85 meters high from the bottom to the top.

Bridge Tower

Two pairs of bridge tower are located respectively at the two ends of the bridge. The big tower is about 70 meters high and 11 meters wide. On the top of the tower, there is a ‘three red banner’, which is about 8 meters long and shows a shape of leap forward. There are elevators in the tower, which enable personnel access to both decks of the bridge, the park and the tower. The small tower resembles the big one in structure, appearance and color.

Cast Iron Reliefs

On both sides of the highway bridge are beautifully decorated with 202 pieces of cast iron relief, including 100 pieces of sunflower hollow out relief, 96 pieces of scenery relief and 6 pieces of national emblem relief. The scenery reliefs described the views of China’s mountains and rivers. Influenced by the relief of the monument to the People’s heroes and the ten big building sculptures in Beijing, the relief combined the drawing way of European sculpture with the Chinese landscape painting, which is harmoniously with the other decorations.