Fujian bridge to receive prestigious intl award

A bridge in Fujian province has won an international engineering award, demonstrating the nation's strength in building bridges and infrastructure.

The Shaxi Bridge, spanning 1,408 meters on a freeway linking Fujian with Hunan province, has six lanes for traffic traveling at 100 kilometers per hour. It opened in May 2022.

Fujian's transport commission said the bridge will receive the prestigious Eugene C. Figg Jr. Medal at the 2024 International Bridge Conference in San Antonio, United States, in June.

The conference is a renowned international academic conference in the field of bridge engineering.

The conference presents six major awards each year that are widely regarded as the most prestigious accolades in the field of bridge engineering, often being referred to as the industry's "Nobel Prize".

The Eugene C. Figg Jr. Medal recognizes a single and recent outstanding achievement in bridge engineering that provides an icon to the community for which it was designed.

It will be the sixth time a project from China has received the Eugene C. Figg Jr. Medal since the award's inception in 2002. Other award-winning bridges include Beijing's Xin Shougang Bridge and the Jiangyin Bridge in Jiangsu province.

The Shaxi Bridge, in Sanming, crosses over a national highway, a railway, a river and a scenic area.

The upper structure of the main bridge employs a 176-meter steel truss composite continuous rigid frame — the world's largest span for such a bridge.

Liu Shenshi contributed to this story.