Under which policy did China build the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge

Under the national economic development policy led by Mao Zedong.

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, located on the river between Snake Hill in Wuchang and Turtle Hill in Hanyang, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, is the first dual-purpose bridge for railroads and highways built over the Yangtze River after the founding of New China, as well as the first bridge over the Yangtze River, which has been called "the first bridge on the Yangtze River for 10,000 miles". It is the landmark of Wuhan.

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is one of the 156 projects supported by the Soviet Union, started in September 1955, officially opened to traffic on October 15, 1957, the total length of more than 1,670 meters. The upper level for the highway bridge, the lower level for the two-lane railroad bridge, the bridge body *** have 8 piers and 9 holes, each span of 128 meters, the bridge can pass under the tons of huge ships, 8 piers, in addition to the 7th seven piers, other than the use of "large-scale column drilling method", which is the first by China's new construction methods, cohesion of the bridge workers in China's resourcefulness and superb craftsmanship.

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge connects the three towns of Wuhan into one, greatly promoting the development of Wuhan. At the same time, the bridge connects the major arteries of China's north and south, stringing up the Beijing-Hankan Railway and Guangdong-Hankan Railway separated by the Yangtze River to form a complete Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, which plays an important role in promoting the development of the economy of the north and the south and the construction of the national economy.

In June 1956, Mao Zedong wrote "A bridge flies over the north and south, the moat valley becomes a smooth road", which is a true portrayal of the important role of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in connecting the north and south transportation in China. As an important symbol of new China's construction achievements, the bridge was selected for the third set of RMB issued in April 1962, and is one of China's famous tourist attractions. on May 3, 2013, Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was selected as one of the "seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units".

The three towns of Wuhan are located in the hinterland of China and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, from which the Han River flows into the Yangtze River, possessing an important geographic advantage, and were once hailed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen as a great commercial port "linking the nine provinces internally, and connecting to the sea externally". By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wuchang was the capital of Hubei Province, Hankou was a commercial port, and Hanyang had developed a certain industrial base. 1906, the Beijing-Hankow Railway was opened to traffic, and the Guangdong-Hankow Railway was under construction, so the idea of building a bridge across the Yangtze River and the Han River to connect the Beijing-Hankow and Guangdong-Hankow routes was noted by all parties. According to historical records, the idea of building the first Yangtze River bridge in Wuhan was first proposed by Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Hubei and Guangdong, to connect the North-South Railway, and in May 1912, Zhan Tianyou, a Chinese railroad engineer, was employed by the Beiyang government as the Guangdong-Han Railway Commissioner. Zhan Tianyou, in the course of the Guangdong-Han Railway's re-examination and determination of the line, took into account that in the future the Guangdong-Han Railway and the Beijing-Han Railway would be connected across the river, and for this reason, in the planning of the Wuchang Railway Station (Tongxiangmen Station), he also reserved the location of the railroad track to connect with the Beijing-Han Railway and the fork in the railroad.

First planning

In 1913, under the support of Zhan Tianyou, the National Peking University (now Peking University) German professor of engineering, George Miller, led by Xia Changchui, Li Wenji and other 13 civil engineering students, to Wuhan to the Yangtze River Bridge site for a preliminary survey and the design of the bridge internship, and by the then President of Peking University, Yan Fu, will be the intention of the bridge to be constructed on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation. This time became the first actual planning of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, when the proposal was put forward to the narrowest part of the river between Hanyang Turtle Hill and Wuchang Snake Hill as the bridge site, connecting the Yuehan Railway via Wuchang Hanyang Gate and Binyang Gate, and designing the style of dual-use bridge for highway and railroad. The bridge structure was modeled after the world's largest steel bridge at the time - the Forth Bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland, England, with railroad, highway, tramway, and sidewalks on the bridge deck. This plan was not implemented, but its location was proved to be very suitable by history, and it was basically the same as the sites selected for several subsequent plans.

Second plan

In February 1919, Sun Yat-sen wrote "Industrial Plan", described the development of China's industrial ways, principles and plans, put forward China's economic construction of the bridge at sunset

Bridge at sunset

grand blueprint, in its discussion of the construction of the Yangtze River bridge or tunnel in Wuhan, mentioned the location of the problem. In order to connect the three towns of Wuhan, Sun Yat-sen then proposed "in the Beijing-Hanzhou railroad line in the Yangtze River side of the first turn, should be through a tunnel across the bottom of the river, in order to liaise between the two sides of the river. More at the mouth of the Han River to bridge or tunnel, contact Wuchang, Hankou, Hanyang three cities as a city. To the future development and expansion of urban land, there are several points can build bridges or tunnels". 1923, organized by the Xinhai Revolution Chief of Staff Sun Wu, based on Sun's planning ideas, compiled the "Hankou Municipal Building Plan". The Plan clearly put forward, "to Hanyang of the Dabie foothills (Turtle Hill), Wuchang of the Huangguo foothills (Snake Hill) as the base, set up the Wuhan Great Iron Bridge, can be collected Pinghan, Guangdong and Han, Sichuan and Han three railroads, connecting the perfection of the gas".

Because of the Pinghan Railway Yellow River Bridge in the construction process in order to save money, early opening, so the building quality is poor, only as a temporary bridge to use. 1921, the Beiyang government proposed to build a new Yellow River Bridge and the implementation of the public tender, the Ministry of Transportation and the United States to hire a bridge expert John Waddell (John A.L. Waddell) as a consultant, in addition to the preparations for the construction of the new bridge, and asked it to design a new bridge, and to design a new bridge, and to design a new bridge, and to design a new bridge. The Ministry of Transportation also hired American bridge expert John A.L. Waddell as a consultant, in addition to planning the construction of the Yellow River Bridge, and asked him to design the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. Waddell chose the bridge site and the proposed location of Beijing University in 1912 is roughly the same; design using simple truss beams, anchor arm sorghum, cantilever sorghum mixed arrangement, and advocate the use of alloy steel to reduce the weight of the bridge, the budget for the construction cost of 9.7 million silver dollars, Waddell and recommended to the U.S. business loans. Waddell's program has caused the government to pay attention to the proposed bridge site has also done field drilling, but because of the huge construction costs, the plan also failed.

In January 1927, the national government in Guangzhou moved its capital to Wuhan; in April of the same year, it merged the three towns of Wuhan and set up the city of Wuhan. in April 1929, the national government set up the Wuhan Special Municipal Government, which further promoted the municipal construction of Wuhan. In the same year, after Liu Wendao became the mayor of Wuhan, he invited Waddell to come to China again to discuss the construction of a bridge over the Yangtze River. Waddell revised the 1921 design, in order to ensure the passage of the Yangtze River ships, the bridge using a simple truss girder with lifting beams, the total length of 4,010 feet, **** 15 holes, the bridge deck layer from the highway and railroad **** use, the bridge can be lifted up to 150 feet above the highest water surface. Again, this plan was not pursued due to the huge cost and the fact that the National Government was too busy dealing with internal military factional struggles, including civil wars such as the Chiang-Kwai War and the Central Plains War, to be concerned with the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge.

The third plan

In 1935, in view of the imminent completion of the entire line of the Guangdong-Han Railway, it was necessary to connect the Pinghan and Guangdong-Han routes in Wuhan. At that time, the Ministry of Railways had considered modeling on the Nanjing Railway Ferry, which was completed in 1933, but due to the fact that the water level of the Yangtze River in Wuhan rises and falls twice as much as that of Nanjing, and the approach bridges on both sides of the river were more difficult to construct, it was forced to shelve the program of the Railway Ferry. In the same year, by Mao Yisheng as director of the Qiantang River Bridge Engineering Agency and the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge site for surveying and drilling, and asked the Soviet Union in China, Molinadesen engineering consultants to cooperate in the development of another bridge building program. Plans for a fixed railroad highway joint bridge, the bridge is located in wuchang huanghe building to hanyang lotus flower north of hubei liujia dock between the total length of 1,932 meters, set up two 7 piers 8 holes, 6, 7 piers for large ships navigable waterway, the main span of 237.74 meters, to the arch of steel girders set up in 6, 7 piers above, under the bridge in the highest flood level when the net height of 30 meters; bridge deck, highway and railroad side-by-side. Including the Han Shui Railway Bridge and the approach bridge, the project cost 10.6 million yuan of national currency. In order to raise funds, but also had drawn up the bridge tolls, installments to pay interest. But because of the difficulty of raising funds, the results also failed. 1937 March, the south bank of the Yangtze River, Guangdong-Han Railway Xujiamiao Station (now Wuchang North Station) and the north bank of the Pinghan Railway Liujiamiao Station (now Jiangan Station) between the railroad ferries are open to navigation, the train by ferry across the river has become "a scene of the river city".

Fourth plan

After the end of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China, a lot of waste was waiting to be rebuilt, and the plan to build the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was revisited again. Hubei Provincial Government held a meeting on August 25, 1946, decided to invite the Yuehan District, Pinghan District Railway Administration and China Bridge Company *** with the organization set up the Wuhan Bridge Preparatory Committee, the provincial government chairman Wan Yaohuang for the chairman of the committee, Mao Yisheng for the chief engineer; early September of the same year, the Republic of China Executive Yuan engineering planning group Hou Jiayuan, along with the U.S. bridge experts, such as the Bowman inspection of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge site. In the same year, by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of China, accompanied by Ha Xiongwen, director of the Department of construction of the United States municipal experts Gordon came to inspect the Han, and Pinghan District Railway Administration Xia Guangyu, then proposed to build the bridge is: railroads and highways can be merged to reduce the cost of the location is still to the turtle mountain, Snake Mountain, between the appropriate; in order to reduce the number of piers, to facilitate shipping, it was decided to switch to a longer span of the cantilever arch bridge, with 4 piers and 5 holes, and at the same time, taking into account the main line of the railroad Transportation is increasingly busy, the bridge can be appropriate to improve the load rating. Later, because of the civil war, economic difficulties, the national government has no time to care about the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge, Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge plans again shelved.

The fifth planning

In 1949, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China, Li Wenji, 63 years old at the time and involved in the planning and exploration of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge for many times since 1913, jointly with some scientists and engineers, such as Mao Yisheng, reported the "Preparation for the construction of Wuhan Memorial Bridge Proposal" to the Central People's Government, proposing the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, as a " As a "commemorative building for the success of the New Democratic Revolution", Li Wenji and Mao Yisheng reported to the Central People's Government the "Proposal for the Construction of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge", proposing the construction of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge as a "commemorative building for the success of the New Democratic Revolution", detailing the previous four planning and the reasons for the setbacks, and discussing the possibilities for China to build the bridge at that time, as well as the specific contents of the project and the funding budget (60 billion RMB). The central government attaches great importance to this, September 21, 1949 to 30, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held in Peking, the meeting through the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge bill, and in late 1949, Li Wenji, Mao Yisheng and other bridge experts were invited to Beijing, **** business bridge construction.

According to the instructions of the State Council of the Central People's Government, the Ministry of Railways of the Central People's Government immediately began to plan for the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. 1950 January, the Ministry of Railways set up the Railway Bridge Committee, and in March of the same year, set up the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge measurement and drilling team and the design group, by the Chinese bridge experts Mao Yisheng as the head of the expert group to start the preliminary exploration and survey, Li Wenji, the fifth time to Wuhan to participate in the design and measurement of the Yangtze River Bridge. The Yangtze River Bridge design and measurement and exploration, but Li Wenji was already sick, and insisted on working until June 1951, died in August of the same year.

The expert group has **** made eight bridge site line program, and one by one for meticulous study, all the program has a **** the same characteristics, is the use of hills on both sides of the Yangtze River in order to shorten the length of approach bridges and embankments. 1950 September to 1953 March, had three Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge meeting, on the scale of the bridge, bridge type, material, construction methods, etc. for discussion. February 18, 1953, Mao Zedong in Wuhan to listen to the leadership of the Central *** Central Bureau of South China on the bridge survey and design report, and climbed the Wuchang Yellow Crane Tower inspected the bridge site. The bridge site program approved by the Central Finance and Economics Commission to determine the Ministry of Railways immediately organized the preliminary design. 1953 March completed the preliminary design, the Soviet Union experts were invited to guide and commissioned the Soviet Ministry of Transportation on the design program identification.

Folding design planning

April 1, 1953, Zhou Enlai approved the establishment of the Wuhan Bridge Engineering Bureau (now the predecessor of the China Railway Bridge Bureau Group), responsible for the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Peng Min, director and first deputy secretary of the Party Committee, Yang Zaitian, Cui Wenbing, deputy director, and Wang Juqian, chief engineer. July to September of the same year, the Ministry of Railways sent a delegation to carry all the design drawings of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge to the Soviet Union capital of Moscow, requesting the Soviet side to assist in technical appraisal, the Soviet side of the 25 bridge experts sent by the Appraisal Committee to study the appraisal of the improvement of the proposal includes a slight adjustment of the Hanyang bank of the bridge site, agreed to use the pneumatic caisson method of construction, etc., and in view of truss girder structure of the Yalujiang River Bridge in Dandong, China. In view of the truss girder structure of the Dandong Yalu River Bridge, which was blown up in the Korean War when the girder fell, it was suggested that the bridge form of the Yangtze River Bridge should be changed to a three-hole, one-connection, equal-span continuous sorghum in consideration of the operational readiness. 203rd meeting of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on January 21, 1954 heard the report of the then Minister of Railways Teng Daiyuan on the preparation for the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and passed the "Resolution on the Construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge", deciding to adopt the Soviet Union's appraisal, approved the preliminary design of the Yangtze River Bridge, formally appointed Peng Min as director of the Wuhan Bridge Engineering Bureau, Yang Zaitian, Cui Wenbing, deputy director, while approving the end of 1958 railroads open to traffic and the end of August 1959 highway open to traffic the deadline for the completion of the project.

In 1954, the State Council approved the request of the Ministry of Railways to hire a group of Soviet experts to come to China for support.

In July 1954, the Soviet government dispatched an expert working group headed by Konstantin Sergeyevich Sirlin (Константин Сергевич Силин), a group of 28 people, to come to China for technical assistance. Xilin, a famous Soviet bridge expert, had gone to China twice between 1948 and 1949 to assist in the restoration of the railroads in the Northeast region and the Songhua River Bridge, and had participated in the construction of bridges on the Chengdu-Chongqing, Tianlan, and Lanxin railroads [11]. Xilin came to China, said that the Yangtze River Bridge is not suitable for the construction of pneumatic caisson method, the reason is that the Yangtze River is deep and fast-flowing, the caisson needs to be sunk to a depth of 30 meters to 40 meters, in the environment close to four atmospheric pressure, each worker can only work for about half an hour a day, the actual operating time of only ten minutes, and can only be carried out in the dry season of the construction of a few months, which is bound to greatly prolong the construction time, the hazards of worker's health, and need to purchase a large number of special equipment, increasing investment in the project. Xilin suggested using the pipe column drilling method, not only in the water surface construction, not subject to the limitations of the deep water period, and does not affect the health of the workers, but this method at that time is still a new technology, the Soviet Union has not yet been practiced. Bridge construction department of the pipe column drilling method design program after three months of discussion and half a year of testing, proved to be feasible, after consulting the Minister of Railways Teng Daiyuan, Premier Zhou Enlai, the State Council in the first half of 1955 approved the new program "to continue to carry out experiments, and will be compared with the old and the new program, but also the implementation of the Central Committee of the Party advocated the 'relying on the masses, all through the test' method.

February 1954, in 1950 the basis of the preliminary survey, by the Ministry of Geology, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Railways, a joint geological exploration team of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, began to Wuhan Yangtze River trench and the two sides of the geological assessment. In the summer and fall of the same year, Wuhan was hit by the biggest flood since the hydrological record was made in 1855, and the exploration team finally completed the geological evaluation between Wuchang Yellow Crane Tower and Hanyang Turtle Hill on January 10, 1955. on January 15, 1955, the technical meeting on the selection of the bridge site of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was held in Hankou, and it was officially decided to choose the line of Turtle Hill and Snake Hill. in February, 1955, the Ministry of Railway set up the In February 1955, the Ministry of Railways set up the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge Technical Advisory Committee as a technical advisory body for the bridge project, with Mao Yisheng as the chairman and other members including Luo Ying, Tao Shuzeng, Li Guohao, Zhang Wei, Liang Sicheng, etc. From late May to early June 1955, the technical design of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was compiled in accordance with the pipe-column drilling method, and the Ministry of Railways concentrated on the famous bridge specialists and bridge architects in China, and held a technical design review meeting for the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, which reviewed the design of the bridge. The Ministry of Railways focused on famous bridge experts and bridge construction engineers, and held a technical design review meeting, which reviewed the technical design, construction schedule and total budget of the bridge. On July 18 of the same year, the State Council approved these reports, marking the beginning of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge construction project into the implementation stage.

Construction

After the approval of the State Council, the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge officially started on September 1, 1955 ahead of schedule. Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge all projects in addition to the bridge itself, but also includes a large number of ancillary projects, including the Hanshui Railway Bridge, the bridge liaison line, the Hankou detour line from Danshui Chi Station to the Hanshui Railway Bridge head through the Jiang'an West Station (today's Beijing-Guangzhou Railway main line), the liaison line from Jiang'an Station to Jiang'an West Station, the Jiang'an West Formation Station, the Hanxi Station, the Hanyang Station, and other facilities, which the Hanshui Railway Bridge and the main and approach bridges of the Yangtze River Bridge project by the Ministry of Railways Wuhan Bridge Bureau is responsible for the construction, and the rest of the railroad and cross-line bridge projects are constructed by the Ministry of Railways. Railroad from the Yuehan Railway Wuchang South Station, to three-dimensional intersection across the Wuluo Road, Zhongshan Road, Wuchang Road, Jiefang Road, along the Snake Hill to the Yellow Crane Tower, across the Yangtze River, after crossing the river along the Turtle Hill to three-dimensional intersection across the Hanyang Yuehu Street, to Ruanjia Terrace over the Han River, and across the Zhanggongdi and Renshou Street to the Yudaimen Station and the Beijing-Hanhai Railway to join the railroad. As early as in the bridge design and planning at the same time, as one of the supporting projects of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, Hanshui Railway Bridge in November 27, 1953 took the lead in the construction of the two sides of the railroad liaison line project also began at the same time, and was completed on November 12, 1954, on January 1, 1955 officially opened to traffic. The Han River Highway Bridge was also started on October 30, 1954, and opened to traffic in December 1955, and was named "Jianghan Bridge".

The Soviet government, after learning that the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was constructed using the pipe-column drilling method, sent a delegation headed by Kozhevnikov, the minister of Transportation and Engineering, to China at the end of 1955 to visit the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge. In the end, Xilin's pipe-column drilling method was recognized by the Soviet government, and in the same month an agreement was signed between the Chinese Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Transportation Engineering of the USSR, which positively evaluated this construction technique. Large pipe column drilling method to make the bridge construction speed greatly improved, pier foundation project from the full-scale construction to the basic completion of only one year and a month time.

June 1956, the bridge steel beam riveted two months later, workers found that some rivets can not fill all the eyelets, there is loose. Bridge Bureau immediately conducted on-site tests, confirming the workers' findings, and ordered, before the riveting construction methods are not solved, stop riveting rivets, steel beams stop splicing. Until October, the Yangtze River Bridge steel girder riveting test concluded that the rivets completely fill the eyelet, and higher than the national target of 5%, the bridge project restarted. 1956 October, the bridge piers under the sinking of the tube column and from the tube column inside the river to the bottom of the rock plate drilling work is completed.

Folded and opened to traffic

The opening ceremony of the Yangtze River Bridge

The opening ceremony of the Yangtze River Bridge

March 16, 1957, the bridge piers project was completed. Yangtze River Bridge using three 9-hole equal span between the support beams for installation, the use of balanced cantilever assembly erection method, from Wuchang, Hanyang, both sides of the river at the same time at the same time, all the steel beams are made by the Shanhaiguan, Shenyang Bridge Factory, steel from Anshan Iron and Steel; May 4, 1957, the bridge steel beams together successfully, the same day held a celebration meeting. Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (together with ancillary projects) total investment budget of 172 million yuan, the actual use of only 138.4 million yuan; bridge itself cost budget of 72.5 million yuan, the actual use of only 65.81 million yuan.

In June 1956, Mao Zedong from Changsha to Wuhan, the first swim across the Yangtze River, when the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge has been the first outline, Mao Zedong impromptu wrote "Song of Water - Swimming" a word, which is widely recited sentence "a bridge over the North and the South, the moat has become a road," is the description of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and the important role of the momentum.1957 September 6, Mao Zedong third to the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge site inspection, and walked from the Hanyang bridge to the Wuchang bridge.

On September 25, 1957, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was fully completed and was officially opened to traffic on a trial basis that afternoon.

On October 15, 1957, 50,000 Wuhan people were at the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, held a ceremony for the completion and opening of the bridge.