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Record-breaking maritime tower, 68-meter deck, and combined use for trains and vehicles place the Xihoumen Bridge among China’s most complex transportation works, in an island region linked to ports, industry, and strategic corridors in the east of the country.
China has completed the main tower number 5 of the Xihoumen road-rail bridge in Zhoushan, in the east of the country, and advanced in one of the most complex stages of the connection that will integrate train and highway over the Xihoumen channel.
The structure reached 294 meters in height, a mark compared by the state agency Xinhua to a building of approximately 100 floors.
The project is part of the Ningbo-Zhoushan railway and will also be shared by the Ningbo-Zhoushan expressway, forming a combined-use maritime crossing in a logistically significant island region.
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According to Xinhua, the completed tower set a world record as the tallest ever built at sea for a bridge.
Xihoumen Bridge connects islands in a strategic area of Zhejiang
The Xihoumen Bridge is under construction in the city of Zhoushan, a coastal archipelago located in Zhejiang province, in an area connected to the industrial and port routes of eastern China.
The structure crosses the Xihoumen channel and is part of the railway project that seeks to expand access between island areas and the mainland.
The project was designed to simultaneously accommodate trains and vehicles, a solution used when infrastructure needs to concentrate different transportation flows in a single connection.
In regions formed by islands, this type of project reduces the need for separate crossings and facilitates the organization of land access.
The bridge will have a main span of 1,488 meters, a width of 68 meters, and a total length of 3,118 meters, according to data released by China Daily in May 2025.
The Chinese state vehicle classified the structure as the world’s widest road-rail bridge, considering the joint use for road and rail traffic.
294-meter tower supports advancement of the project at sea
In suspension bridges or with combined support systems, the main towers are essential pieces for distributing the efforts of the deck and cables.
They help transfer part of the loads to the foundations, allowing long stretches over water with fewer intermediate supports.
In the case of Xihoumen, the height of tower number 5 shows the scale of the technical challenge.
The construction takes place in a maritime environment, subject to wind, humidity, salinity, and constant operation of vessels, factors that increase the complexity of the site and require strict assembly control.
Xinhua reported that tower number 5 was the first of its kind to be completed along the entire Ningbo-Zhoushan railway line.
This stage paves the way for higher phases of the bridge, such as cable preparation, assembly of metal structures, and integration of the deck that will receive the planned traffic.
68-meter deck requires reinforced stability
The width of the deck is one of the points that differentiate the Xihoumen Bridge from other maritime crossings.
With 68 meters, the structure needs to accommodate road lanes and railway lines, which impose different loads, speeds, and vibration patterns on the same system.
China Daily reported that the project uses a combined deck design for road and railway, with three separate steel box girders connected in a ladder-like configuration.
The solution was adopted to increase wind resistance, especially in a region subject to the influence of typhoons.
This concern is not only structural but operational.
In large-span bridges, the wind can affect the behavior of the deck, cause oscillations, and require aerodynamic solutions capable of keeping the crossing stable during its lifetime.
The structure also needs to withstand the permanent weight of its own components, the movement of trains, vehicle traffic, and environmental variations.
Therefore, the engineering of the bridge involves foundations, towers, cables, and deck working in an integrated manner, not just the visible suspended section over the sea.
New Xihoumen Bridge is not the existing road crossing
The Xihoumen road-rail bridge should not be confused with the existing road bridge of the same name in the region.
The previous structure is part of the road connection of the Zhoushan archipelago, while the new construction belongs to the Ningbo-Zhoushan railway project and was designed to expand transportation capacity between islands.
This distinction is relevant because Zhoushan already has a network of maritime crossings, bridges, and accesses aimed at different logistical functions.
The new bridge adds to this network a connection capable of accommodating trains and vehicles in the same corridor, reinforcing regional integration.
The region occupies a strategic position on the Chinese coast by bringing together islands, port areas, and industrial chains near the Yangtze River delta.
The expansion of land and railway connections tends to reduce movement limitations imposed by insular geography, especially in sections dependent on maritime connections.
Chinese megainfrastructure combines railway, road, and logistics
The Xihoumen Bridge boasts numbers that explain the international impact of the project: a tower nearly 300 meters high erected at sea, a main span close to 1.5 kilometers, a deck of 68 meters, and combined use for railway and road.
Before opening to traffic, however, the most important progress occurs in stages not very visible to future users.
Foundations, towers, cables, metal structures, and stabilization systems define the safety of the crossing long before tracks and lanes start to accommodate passengers and cargo.
The construction also shows how maritime projects depend on specific solutions to tackle corrosion, wind, heavy load movement, and logistics of assembly over water.
Each of these stages directly affects the durability and operation of a bridge planned to function in a harsh coastal environment.
When completed, the Xihoumen Bridge is expected to increase the connection capacity between the islands of Zhoushan and the transportation network of eastern China, within a corridor that combines railway, road, and logistics functions.
Tower number 5, already completed, has become the most visible landmark of a project that still depends on the integration of its main systems to become operational.
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