Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) would be another major national landmark when it opens for traffic in 2026, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday.
Designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016, the bridge is to connect Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts in New Taipei City and would be the world’s longest single-tower, asymmetric cable-stayed suspension bridge when it is completed.
Chen inspected the construction site of the bridge’s main section for the first time since taking office on Sept. 2.
Photo: CNA
The bridge would ease traffic on Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋) in Beitou District (北投) and in Tamsui, and would improve travel betwen Tamsui and Taipei, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the Port of Taipei, he said.
The world-class architecture would be an important landmark in Taiwan, with people flying in and out able to see it, he said.
“The bridge has a 70-story-high tower, which New Taipei City could use to launch New Year’s fireworks. It would be another New Year’s Eve highlight to attract tourists, along with the fireworks displays at Taipei 101,” he said.
Visitors to the bridge could top 25,000 during holidays, Chen said.
A bridge management center would be built near the facility to conduct maintenance and sell bridge-related souvenirs, he said.
Aside from lanes reserved for motor vehicles and a light-rail system, the bridge would also have pedestrian and cycle lanes so people can watch the sunset from the vantage points it provides, he said.
Members of the bridge construction team comprise engineers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Germany, the Highway Bureau said.
When completed, the bridge would have a 450m span, the longest in the world, the bureau said.
As the bridge is designed to last 120 years, the construction team applied multiple layers of protection to ensure its durability, including anti-chloride ion penetration concrete, galvanized steel bars, weather-resistant steel and pier coating, it said.
Last week, the construction team began hoisting steel to build the bridge’s main section across the river, which is an important phase in the construction process, it said.
As of August, 77 percent of the construction work had been completed, the bureau said, adding that the tower is expected to top out at 200m by July next year.
The main section of the bridge is scheduled to reach the Bali side of the Tamsui River (淡水河) in March next year and the Tamsui side in September next year, it added.
When the bridge opens for traffic during the first half of 2026, the driving distance between Tamsui and Bali would be reduced to 15km, saving about 25 minutes, it said.
The construction cost topped NT$23 billion (US$707.47 million), it said.
Kung Sing Engineering Corp vice president Chen Huang-ming (陳煌銘) said that the construction team has overcome many challenges to have Handid’s last work built in Taiwan as a world-class landmark.
Before construction of the main section began in 2019, the bureau had failed to locate a contractor despite seven rounds of bidding, Chen said.
While most bridge towers around the world are built vertically and can be constructed from templates, the main tower of the Tamkang Bridge is a 3D curve that varies in width, he said.
The foundation of the main tower has 15,000m3 of concrete and is surrounded by steel piles, he said.
The quality of the concrete is better than that used to build reservoirs, Chen said.
The construction team has taken into account the threats of earthquakes and typhoons when hoisting and assembling the steel beams, which can weigh 400 to 500 tonnes, he said.
Workers needed to learn new welding methods, with the skills comparable to those of welding nuclear reactors, Chen said.
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