Nanpu Bridge (南浦大桥)

The Nanpu Bridge (南浦大桥) across Huangpu river (黄浦江) is one of the main bridges in Shanghai, China, (上海, 中国) and the first cable stayed bridge with a span of over 400 metres in the country. The main bridge is 846 metres long with a main span length of 423 metres. Two “H”-shape reinforced concrete towers, each of 150m high, are set up on both banks, with 22 pairs of steel cables being arranged in a fan pattern.

The postcard shows the circular design of the ascending approach to the bridge which was adopted in order to keep land use to a minimum.  When viewed across the entire span, the Nanpu Bridge looks like a dragon lying across the Huangpu River with its head and tail in a spiral shape linking the old city area of Puxi (浦西) with Pudong (浦东).

Before completion of the bridge in 1991, the only way to communicate between Puxi and Pudong was to take the ferry service. After the bridge opened to the public, 14,000 to 17,000 vehicles started piling on the bridge each day, which increased to 120,000 vehicles per day as recorded in the year 2006.

The Nanpu Bridge is the sister bridge to the Yangpu Bridge (杨浦大桥).

This postcard came from Winnie Li (23 July 2014) Direct Swap.