Yong-Le Bridge in Tianjin, China --- An Integrated Foot- and Vehicle Bridge ---

This bridge was the outcome of an international design competition held by the City of Tianjin in 2003. The bridge crosses the 100m wide “Haihe” river, slowly winding through the city, at the northern part of the Central Tianjin. The competition requirements simply asked for a beautiful urban bridge with 3 vehicle lanes each way that may attract people of the world. The authors thought that such a bridge should be convenient and enjoyable not only to the vehicles passing on, but also to pedestrians who wish to cross the river. Recognizing that the city had been elaborately improving the environmental conditions of the promenades along the both sides of the river, they projected a double-decked bridge for the competition, in which while the vehicles cross the river over the upper deck as usual, the pedestrians and bicycles can use the lower deck not only to move from one river-side promenade to the other without being annoyed by gas, noise or dust from the vehicles, but they can enjoy coffee shops, restaurants, boutiques and other facilities there. In the original idea the bridge decks are cable-supported from the apices of a pair of bipods springing from the both sides of the river. Extending short struts from the apices upwards provides an axis for a Ferris-wheel which travels “across the river”, which may be unique enough to “attract people of the world” as the client desired.

The authors were lucky enough to win the competition, and the bridge was completed in 2008, with some changes which had to be made to cope with an unexpected nationwide economical fluctuation in the process of realization.