The Jiangxi River Bridge, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, has been completed. It is the first of many bridges on Chengdu’s West Line Road, spanning 295 meters across the Jiangxi River, a tributary of the Tuojiang River in China’s Sichuan province. With a central span of 185 meters and secondary spans of 55 meters on either side, the Chengdu West First Bridge is suitable for road, cycle, and pedestrian traffic and allows the West Line Road to become the western section of the Airport New Town ring-road and cycle route.
This bridge is designed with two primary steel arches that rise from both sides of the road deck. The arches have a symmetrical structure and touch tangentially at their crown, providing stability against lateral wind forces. This design is known to be the most efficient for bridge spans ranging from 120 to 250 meters.
The dynamic curvature of the bridge’s supporting piers and abutments taper into its primary arches and road deck, defining a sculptural landmark within Chengdu’s transport infrastructure.
Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) were chosen to construct the bridge after winning the 2019 design competition. They utilized structural analysis software on the digital model of the design, taking into account the weight of the materials, the superimposed dead load, and the live traffic load. They also considered environmental factors such as wind and temperature. Through this analysis, the structure and foundations were designed to withstand severe weather conditions that only occur once every 200 years.
The Jiangxi River Bridge has arches that rise to 30 meters with a height-to-span ratio of 1:6. Longitudinal box girders run along the edge of the road deck and tie the arches together at their base. The concrete abutments at each end of the bridge connect the road deck to the West Line Road’s surface. The intermediate piers are located beneath the springing points of the arches on each riverbank, with no foundations in the Jiangxi River.
The cross beams for the bridge were prefabricated and delivered to the site. They were then connected to the edge girders using bolted cover plate splice connections. The concrete road deck was constructed using precast panels fixed to the cross girders. In-situ concrete stitch pours were used to secure the panels in place.
Project info
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects
Year: 2023
Structural Engineering: Buro Happold, China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Design: Patrik Schumacher
Project Directors: Charles Walker, Lei Zheng, Ed Gaskin
Project Architect: Han-Hsun Hsieh
Site Team: Lei Zheng, Han-Hsun Hsieh
Project Team: Jan Klaska, Lei Zheng, Marina Dimopoulou, Stratis Georgiou, Hung-Da Chien, Han-Hsun Hsieh, Martha Masli, Stella Dourtmes, Charles Walker, Ed Gaskin
Client: Chengdu International Aerotropolis Group Construction and Development Co., Ltd.
Executive Architect: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Local Architect: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Lighting Consultant: Zaha Hadid Architects
Landscape Design: Zaha Hadid Architects
Site Supervision: China Huaxi Engineering Design and Construction Co., Ltd
Quantity Surveyor: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
General Contractor: Sinohydro Bureau 7 Co., Ltd, China Huaxi Engineering Design and Construction Co., Ltd
Environmental Consultant: Shenzhen Pengdaxin Energy Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd
M&E Engineering: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Mep Engineering: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Transport Consultant: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Fire Engineering: China Southwest Architectural Design & Research Institute Corp.Ltd
Location: Chengdu, China
Photographs: Arch Exist, Liang Xue
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