Published : 2024-06-20

On June 20, 1991, the construction of  Shanghai Nanpu Bridge (上海南浦大橋), China's largest cable-stayed bridge at that time, was completed.

Construction on the Nanpu Bridge began in December 1988, with a total project investment reaching 820 million CNY.

At the time, it was the second cable-stayed bridge in the world. The total length of the bridge is 8,346 metres, with a span of 423 metres.

The two bridge towers are 154 metres high, supported by 182 cable strings as thick as the rim of a bowl, suspending the main bridge, which weighs several thousand tonnes, in the air.

Most notably, the four large red Chinese characters of "Nanpu Bridge" on the crossbeam of the main tower were signed by Deng Xiaoping.

In the early stage of the Reform and Opening-up, the economic scale of Shanghai increased year by year.

With more than a million passenger trips and 20,000 vehicles trips crossing the river every day, the urban section of Huangpu River was in great need of a bridge.

After the completion of Nanpu Bridge, it only takes seven to eight minutes for vehicles to pass, 8 times faster than taking ferries.

With the new bridge, the pressure on the ferries and tunnels were also alleviated.