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AECOM Technology Corporation, a leading provider of professional technical and management support services for public and private clients in more than 140 countries around the world, announced that the Institution of Structural Engineers presented the Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence to the Taizhou Bridge during a November 15 ceremony in London.
The project, for which AECOM’s services included design optimization, earlier won the competition’s Highway or Railway Bridge Structures category and bested the winners in nearly a dozen other categories to achieve the Supreme Award, which is the institution’s ultimate accolade for structural engineering excellence. It recognizes Taizhou Bridge as the finest example of structural engineering entered in this year’s competition.
The judges commented that, “This enormous project was an extraordinary achievement, pushing the frontiers of suspension bridge technology to new heights. The judges feel that it lays out an excellent model for the future development of long-span bridges across the world.”
The Taizhou Bridge is the world’s first long-span, three-pylon suspension bridge. With two main spans of 1,080 metres carrying six lanes of traffic, it straddles the two navigation channels of the Yangtze River.
Considerable research and development efforts were applied to solve the issues created by the asymmetric live loading, which is the unique feature of this bridge. The state-of-the-art design was prolific in innovations, including a central pylon that was required to be both stiff and yet sufficiently flexible.
AECOM was a consultant to the Jiangsu Provincial Yangtze River Highway Bridge Construction Commanding Department, providing design optimization and specialist advice for the US$1.5-billion project.
“Every award and recognition is a huge motivation, not only for our employees but also for our friends and families. We are naturally keen to demonstrate our ability to the world, and the best way to articulate that is through independent recognition like this,” said Dr. Robin Sham, AECOM’s global long-span and specialty bridges director. “These prestigious awards help to attract young people into our profession, by showing them the scope of achievement that is possible and the very far-reaching professional success that can be enjoyed.”
Five new world records were pioneered in this project:
The first long-span suspension bridge with three pylons and two 1,080-meter-long (3,540-foot-long) main spans;
The tallest central pylon with a height of 200 meters (656 feet);
The deepest underwater bridge caisson foundation for the central pylon;
The longest suspension cable with two 3,110-meter-long (10,200-foot-long) main cables; and
The first concurrent erection of two long, suspended deck girders in an integral suspension bridge system.
Established in 1968, the annual Structural Awards competition is organized by the Institution of Structural Engineers in the United Kingdom and is considered in many parts of the world to be the industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony, celebrating the world’s most talented structural designers and their indispensable contribution to the built environment.