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Abstract:
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Since the end of 1980, along with economic growth, China has ushered a climax of long-span bridge construction. Up to now, more than 100 long span cable-supported bridges and arch bridges with a span over 400 m have been completed. Other more than 20 long-span bridges, including main bridges in some bay-crossing highway projects and high-speed railway projects, are under construction. The modern bridge construction in China has experienced about three decades, and now the country is facing new challenges and it is need to pay more attention to solve the problems, such as, quality, durability, elegance, and technical innovation for bridge design and construction. On the other hand, the importance of operation condition, namely the safety, durability and serviceability of existing long-span bridges has drawn the attention of bridge management authorities and engineers. The management and maintenance of infrastructures gradually turn into the main societal demands following the construction rush. More than 200 large bridges, including aged ones and newly-constructed ones, have installed SHMS since 1999. The bridge maintenance management, however, is also facing many challenges. This paper reports the recent development and challenges of long-span bridge construction and maintenance in China. Following a review on the construction experience of long-span bridge projects in recent three decades, the paper enumerates the technical challenging issues faced for long bridge construction and maintenance in this country, and the R&D in progress and the prospection in the near future are introduced.
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