Recent Achievements and Challenge of Long Span Bridges in China

Girder bridges are most widely used bridge type with three sub-categories, simply supported system, continuous system and continuous rigid frame system. The current longest span of simply supported beam bridge is only 76m while continuous beam bridge has the longest span of 165m. Continuous rigid frame bridge has the shortest history but the greatest bridging capacity in girder bridges. The span length of this type of girder bridge firstly exceeded 250m in Humen Bridge of 270m China in 1997, and gradually increased to 330m in the 2nd Shibanpo Bridge in China in 2006.