Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Ohmishima Bridge

A ferry is barely visible passing under the Ohmishima Bridge. The bridge itself is only slightly more visible.

This was the first bridge completed for the Honshu-Shikoku Expressway (in 1979). It is a single-span, two-hinged, half-through, solid-rib, arch bridge with side ties. If you understand what all of those terms mean, you're doing pretty good!

Its 328 m long with an arch span of 297 m. The bridge looks like it could have been built elsewhere, brought to the site by barges, and lifted into place. However, the Hanaguri-Seto Channel looks so rough and so busy, that I'm guessing it was built in place, perhaps cantilevered out until the two halves met in the middle.

Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Ohmishima Bridge by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (3)

One more look at the bridge with the longest main span in the world. Cable-stayed bridges are getting bigger but there are no plans to build a longer suspension bridge than the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in the foreseeable future. At 2 km long between 300 m tall towers, this is one big bridge.

There is something interesting about big structures. The sculptor Claes Oldenburg took common objects like clothespins and made them hundreds of times their normal size in order to see them anew. Perhaps something like that takes place when we view a really big bridge.

John Ruskin, the 19th century art critic wrote about how landscape art creates an intense aesthetic experience because familiar details are transformed when seen at a distance and because the object is changed by the distorting effect of the the atmosphere.

These are just my first thoughts on the pleasures of looking at big bridges and other structures. I'd like to hear what you think!

Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (3) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (2)

Japan is composed of four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.

Along the Inland Sea west of Kobe on Honshu Island is the city of Akashi. A narrow strait (the Akashi Kaikyo) separates Akashi from Awaji Island. When the Japanese economy was booming in the 1980s, the government decided to build a highway system to connect quiet Shikoku with booming Honshu.

One Golden Week many years ago, I boarded a ferry from Tokyo to Shikoku Island. It took a day to reach Tokushima on the northeast side of Shikoku. Today, one can drive and its about 350 miles.

In this photo, I'm standing atop the southern tower of the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge looking north at Akashi. Actually, its a fairly clear day, since we can see a considerable distance before the brown smog appears on the horizon. To the right of the bridge is a tower that was put up to allow the public to view the construction of this bridge. Japanese engineers are quite adept at conducting effective publicity campaigns for their new bridges, which include viewing platforms and parks where families can learn about the bridge. Since the toll for crossing the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (also called the Pearl Bridge) is $20 U.S. (2300 Yen), this makes good sense. Also, bridges are considered beautiful objects in Japan. Landscapes showing river crossings are one of the favorite subjects in Japanese art.

Honshu-Shikoku Bridges: Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.