Incheon Bridge

Incheon Bridge
Incheon Bridge under construction
Coordinates	37°24′50″N 126°34′0″E
Carries	6-lane expressway
Locale	Incheon, South Korea
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	21.38 kilometres (13.28 mi)
Width	33.4 metres (110 ft)
Height	230.5 metres (756 ft) (pylons)
Longest span	800 metres (2,600 ft)
No. of spans	5
Clearance below	74 metres (243 ft)
History
Construction start	2005
Construction end	2009
Location

The Incheon Bridge (also called the Incheon Grand Bridge) is a newly constructed reinforced concrete bridge in South Korea. At its opening in October 2009, it became the second connection between Yeongjong Island and the mainland of Incheon. The Incheon Bridge is South Korea's longest spanning cable-stayed bridge. In comparison, the Incheon Bridge is the world's seventh longest cable-stayed bridge as of October 2010. The main purpose of the bridge is to provide direct access between Songdo and Incheon International Airport, reducing travel time between them by up to one hour.

The sea crossing bridge section, whose concessionaire is Incheon Bridge Corporation, is funded by the private sector. Korea Expressway Corporation and the Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) managed the project.

Construction

The main design and build contractor was Samsung C&T Corporation. Additional contractors that contributed to the construction of the bridge were SK Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd, AMEC, Halcrow, Dasan Consultants, and Arup. Total costs exceeded $1.4 billion (~1.25 trillion KRW) to build. The 21.38 kilometres (13.3 mi) long highway project consisted of government-built sections at three ends and a 12.34 kilometres (7.7 mi) section in the middle built with private capital, the bridge section is 18,384 metres (60,315 ft) long. The bridge has a cable stayed section over the main sea route to Incheon port. This was the most difficult part to construct, with a main tower 230.5 metres (756.2 ft) high, vertical clearance of 74 m (243 ft), and five spans: a centre span of 800 m (2,625 ft) flanked on either side by spans of 260 m (853 ft) and 80 m (262 ft). Adjacent to the center section are approach spans consisting of a series of 150 m (492 ft) balanced cantilever spans. Lower level viaducts consisting of 50 m (164 ft) spans connect to land at each end of the bridge.

Design

Because the bridge is situated in a known seismically-active region, a seismic design of the substructure was adopted.

At 12.3 km long with a main cable stayed span of 800m the new Incheon Bridge will be one of the five longest of its type in the world. Its 33.4m wide steel/concrete composite deck will carry six lanes of traffic 74m above the main shipping route in and out of Incheon port and link the new Incheon International Airport on Yeongjong Island to the international business district of New Songdo City and the metropolitan districts of South Korea’s capital, Seoul. The cable stayed section of the crossing is 1,480m long, made up of five spans measuring 80m, 260m, 800m, 260m and 80m respectively: height of the inverted Y main towers is 230.5m. A 1.8 km approach span and 8.7 km viaduct complete the crossing, both constructed with precast prestressed concrete box girder decks. Foundations are drilled piles 3m in diameter. In order to accommodate movement between the bridge decks, the Incheon bridge was equipped with expansion joints weighing up to 50 tons per joint. These were designed by International civil engineering firm mageba.

Notable Incidents

On May 20, 2010, twelve passengers were killed in a bus crash at the bridge.

Gallery

• 
  The cable stayed section
• 
  Road view (1)
• 
  Road view (2)
• 
  The toll gate

External links

• Official Website
• Roadtraffic Technology
• Incheon Bridge at Structurae
• DYWIDAG Post-Tensioning System incorporated into Korea's largest bridge construction project