The 890m-long Noryang suspension bridge in South Korea has become the world’s first to be built with main towers that lean.
Built at an angle of 8° to reduce the tension of the main cable, the 149m-high towers also give the appearance of being in a tug of war.
South Korean builder GS Engineering and Construction has completed the bridge in South Gyeongsang Province after nine years of construction.
The bridge features another claimed first: its cables were designed with a streamlined shape to reduce wind loading on the bridge.
Ko Byung-woo, head of the infrastructure division at GS, commented: "By building the world’s first suspension bridge with an inclined main tower with purely in-house technology, we have received requests from countries like Norway to share construction technology. We are proud to take a step forward to become the world’s leading builder."
The structure, which has a total length of 3.1km including the elevated ramps leading to the central span, links an island off the south coast of Korea with the mainland. It is the third-longest in the country, after the 1,545m Yi Sun-sin Bridge and the 1,150m Ulsan Bridge.
Image: The Noryang bridge (GS E&C/CC by 2.0)
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