Monday, August 31, 2009

Shanghai, China's Bridges: Datong Road Bridge

A view downstream from the deck of the Datong Road Bridge. There's a barrier in the the middle of the deck (in the extreme foreground), perhaps to prevent head-on collisions. Not a bad idea.

Vehicles in China drive (or ride) on the right-hand side of the road. A few countries still use the left side. When I lived in Japan, whenever I made a left-hand turn, I found myself aiming towards the right side of the road, and into oncoming traffic! Being a traveler requires a certain dexterity of mind.

The nice thing about a deck arch (like Datong Road Bridge) is that there are no arch ribs sticking up from the deck or blocking one's view. The problem with deck arches is that they require competent soil and expensive foundations to resist the axial force of the arch ribs.

In today's photo we are looking east, back towards Wuzhen Road Bridge, downtown Shanghai, and the Pudong District. It may seem a little odd to spend several weeks studying bridges across a little creek, but much of Shanghai's history occurred here. Various imperialist powers lived along its banks, vied for the wealth of China, fought wars here, and left behind a strange and unique city and culture.
Creative Commons License
Shanghai, China's Bridges: Datong Road Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

No comments: