The Waibaidu Bridge over the Suzhou Creek is 100 years old today
and still in good condition, local engineering officials said
yesterday.
They also said the city government is to improve the inspection
and maintenance of local bridges and will build four new ones over
the Suzhou Creek.
"We will have safety inspections on the Waibaidu Bridge every
week," Shang Guoping, a senior engineer of Shanghai Engineering
Administrative Bureau, said at a seminar yesterday marking the
bridge's 100th anniversary.
He said the current Waibaidu bridge was built in 1907 and
designed to last for 50 years.
However, due to its good quality and good maintenance, the
bridge has been proved a "bridge in good condition" in a recent
safety inspection, Shang said.
Officials didn't say when the city planned to fortify the
bridge. Some engineers previously announced the bridge would be
reinforced because the construction on a nearby tunnel could affect
it.
Some experts of Tongji University estimate that the bridge will
operate safely for at least another 30 years.
As one of the best preserved symbols of Shanghai, the
104-meter-long and 18-meter-wide steel truss bridge is still a main
means of crossing the river for pedestrians and about 27,000
vehicles every day.
It has two spans and was the first steel bridge in China. It
lasted 40 years without any problems but since the 1940s it has
undergone four major repairs and reinforcement, the latest one in
1999.
The Waibaidu bridge, also known as the Garden Bridge, is listed
as a heritage construction.
The word "baidu" means "free ferry" - a name noting the toll
Chinese people had to pay to use an earlier bridge built in 1856 by
a British businessman.
Also at yesterday's seminar, officials of the engineering bureau
announced improved maintenance of all 33 bridges across the Suzhou
Creek.
(Shanghai Daily December 29, 2007)