The awarding ceremony of the International Bridge Conference 2021 began in the United States online at 20:00 on June 8 Beijing time. Three bridges from China were recognized at the ceremony. The Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Rail-cum-Road Bridge designed by China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co., Ltd. and constructed by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co., Ltd. with help from China Railway Hi-Tech Industry Co., Ltd. (CRHIC) was presented with George S. Richardson Medal; the Cuijiaying Hanjiang River Bridge of Wuhan-Shiyan High-speed Railway built by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co., Ltd. with help from CRHIC received the Award of Merit for Railroad; and the Pingtang Bridge built with help from CRHIC won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal.

Connecting Tongzhou district of Nantong City in the north with Zhangjiagang City in the south, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Rail-cum-Road Bridge measures 11,072 meters in length. It is a bridge of a four-lane rail and a six-lane road. The main structure is a steel truss cable-stayed bridge spanning 1,092 meters. It is the first rail-cum-road cable-stayed bridge with the main spanning exceeding 1,000 meters. The main tower is 330 meters in height, also the highest of its kind in the world. The bridge used the new material of parallel steel cable capable of handling 2,000MPa of pressure, the highest in the world. The construction used the world’s heaviest girder crane independently developed by CREC.

The Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Rail-cum-Road Bridge.

Located in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, the Cuijiaying Hanjiang River Bridge of Wuhan-Shiyan High-speed Railway measures 13,013 meters in total length. The part over the navigation channel is 870 meters and the designed spanning is 300 meters. It is a steel-structured arch bridge with the longest span in the world, and is the first such bridge with a designed speed of 350 km/h. 

Pingtang Bridge is one of the most complicated projects along the Pingtang-Luodian Expressway in Guizhou Province. The total length is 2,135 meters. It is the largest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in mountainous areas. The central tower, rising 332 meters high, holds the world record as the highest concrete bridge tower.

The International Bridge Conference is the pre-eminent arena for the bridge industry in the world. The globally influential event is presented by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania. IBC set up the awards in 1988, which have been recognized as the “Noble Prizes” in the bridge industry.