Lupu Bridge

The Lupu Bridge is the world's longest arch bridge in Shanghai, China.

Lupu Bridge

Crosses                                Huangpu River

Locale                                  Shanghai, China

Design                                 Arch Bridge

Total length                         3,900 m (12,795 ft)

Width                                  28.7 m (94 ft)

Longest span                       550 m (1,804 ft)

Clearance below                  46 m (151 ft)

Opening date                      June 28, 2003

The name of the bridge, Lupu, is an abbreviation of the two districts of Shanghai which it links - Luwan District on the north bank, and Pudong New District on the south bank. This follows the naming convention of the three earlier bridges on the Huangpu River - Nanpu (Nanshi-Pudong), Yangpu (Yangpu-Pudong), and Xupu (Xuhui-Pudong).

During the hearings and evaluations of the construction of the bridge, scholars and experts agreed with the local government in that a bridge was indeed needed for further development, but that was where the similarity ended. The experts have continuously advocated the local government on alternative designs that cost much less and produce the same result, but the local government, under the reign of disgraced mayor Chen Liangyu, decided against the advice to select the current arch bridge design.

The reason was simply because for the cheaper alternative bridge designs, there were already such bridges in Shanghai, and the arch bridge design not only provided a first for the city of this design, but also enabled the city to claim a world record for being the longest.