Published : 2025-04-29
On April 29, 1991, construction began on the Shanghai Yangpu Bridge (上海楊浦大橋), which spans the Huangpu River.
It is a cable-stayed bridge with twin towers and dual cable planes designed and built by China.
The construction of the Yangpu Bridge began on April 29, 1991, and was completed on September 15, 1993, taking only 2 years and 5 months.
In the early 1990s, with the development of Pudong New Area starting, the passenger flow across the Huangpu River in Shanghai increased dramatically.
There was an urgent need for a new bridge to alleviate traffic congestion on both sides of the Huangpu River.
The renowned bridge expert Lin Yuanpei (林元培) took on the responsibility of constructing the bridge.
The total length of the Yangpu Bridge is 8,354 metres (including the main bridge, approach bridges, ramps, and access roads). The main bridge is 1,172 metres long and 30.35 metres wide, with 6 lanes.
The main tower of the bridge is 208 metres high, with 32 pairs of steel cables connecting the main girder on both sides of the tower, fanning out like an open fan.
The bridge tower raises 256 steel cables to suspend the deck in the air, resembling a rainbow spanning the Huangpu River.
The Yangpu Bridge once set a world record with a main span length of 602 metres, which was not surpassed until the Normandy Bridge in France in 1995.
At that time, Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) had set foot on the Yangpu Bridge and personally inscribed the bridge's name. He emotionally remarked, "It is a delight to see today's roads, better than reading ten thousand books!"
On October 23, 1993, the Yangpu Bridge was successfully completed and officially opened to traffic. It is currently the only cross-river project in the area north of the Suzhou River and is another major bridge spanning the Huangpu River after the Nanpu Bridge in the urban area.
After the completion of the Yangpu Bridge, it connects with the Luoshan Road interchange in Pudong New Area to the east and connects with the Inner Ring Elevated Road in Puxi to the west.
Together with the Nanpu Bridge, it forms the two river-crossing hubs on the Inner Ring Road, which is of great significance for alleviating cross-river traffic congestion on the Huangpu River and promoting the development and opening-up of the Pudong area.
