Gross

Rachel Gross

media type="youtube" key="giP-oiD9wVQ" height="385" width="480"
 * 1) What is the name of the bridge? - The name of my bridge is Hangzhou Bay Bridge.
 * 2) When and where was the bridge built? -Construction for this bridge started on June 8, 2004 in China and went until June 14, 2007; but the bridge wasn't open to the public until May 2008.
 * 3) What is the purpose of this bridge? What does it span and what does it connect?- The Hangzhou Bay Bridge was built to shorten the distance from Shanghai and Nangbo. It is 36 kilometers long.
 * 4) Why was this bridge needed?- The bridge was built to alleviate traffic in that area.
 * 5) What type of bridge is it (arch, suspension, cable, beam, etc.)?- The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a Trans-oceanic bridge
 * 6) How much did it cost?- It costs 11.8 billion yuan or 1.7 billion dollars.
 * 7) What materials were used to build this bridge?- To build the bridge, they used about 767,000 tons of steel, 1,291000 tons of cement, 11,600 tons of petroleum asphlat, 19,100 cubic meters of timber, 2,400,000 cubic meters of concrete, and 7,000 foundation piers.
 * 8) What were some of the special challenges that the bridge engineers faced? How did they overcome these challenges?- The construction workers faced a big problem early on in the construction. The problem was a huge reserve of methane gas under the ten-kilometer wide coastline and beach area in the southern bank of the Hangzhou Bay. To avoid a methane gas explosion triggered by bored pile construction, thin steel pipes were introduced and were placed in the gas layer. The gas was effectively drained before drilling piles started.
 * 9) How long did it take to build this bridge?- It took three years to build the bridge but it still wasn't open until the following year.
 * 10) What are the measurements of this bridge?- There are two major spans on the bridge, the northern span and the southern span. The northern span is 447 meters and the southern span is 318 meters.
 * 11) Did you find any fun or interesting facts or stories about this bridge?- A few fun facts about the Hangzhou Bay Bridge are: 600 experts spent 9 years planning and preparing for the bridge, it was estimated that 52,000 cars would use the bridge everyday for the first year it was in use, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge is the longest Trans-oceanic bridge in the world, and there is a man-made island in the middle of the bridge where people can stop to go to the bathroom, rest, stretch, or do whatever they need to do.