Steel Buildings| This site is about Steel and the types of Structures and Buildings Steel makes

The Donghai Bridge is the second longest cross-sea bridge and the 6th longest bridge in the world.

The bridge was the longest cross-sea bridge in the world for a few years until  Hangzhou Bay Bridge was opened on May 1st, 2008.

The Donghai Bridge (simplified Chinese: 东海大桥; traditional Chinese: 東海大橋; pinyin: Dōnghǎi Dàqiáo; literally “East Sea Grand Bridge”) was completed on December 10th, 2005 and has a total length of 20.19 miles it connects Yangshan deep-water port and Shanghai in China. 

The majority of the bridge is low-level viaduct but there are also cable-stayed sections to allow large ships passage. 

Not sure how much steel was used in the construction of this bridge, but as always if I get these figures I will post them or if you have them feel free to comment so everyone can know.

The Runyang Bridge or Rùnyáng Chángjiāng Dàqiáo crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China. 

The bridge consist of two major bridges that link Tangzhou on the north of the river and Zhenjiang on the South.  The bridge is part of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway. 

The south bridge is a suspension bridge with a span of 4888 ft it is the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world, and the longest in China up untill 2007 when the Xihoumen Bridge was opened and made it the 2nd longest in china and 4th in the world. 

The main span of the bridge consists of a streamlined orthotropic steel box girder that is 3 metres (10 ft) in depth. The width of the deck is 39.2 metres (129 ft), accommodating 6 traffic lanes and a narrow walkway at each outside edge for maintenance. The height clearance for river navigation is about 50 metres (164 ft).

The north bridge is a cable-stayed bridge with a span of 1332 ft with towers 492 ft abover water level.  In the middle of the two bridges is the island of Sivezhou.  The length of the bridge is 22.16 miles.  The construction of the bridge started in October 2000 and was opened to the public on April 30th, 2005 , it was opened ahead of schedule

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is the worlds 4th longest bridge 3rd longest over water bridge and the worlds longest Trans-oceanic bridge at 22.17 miles long . 

Construction on this bridge started on June 8th, 2003 and was completed on June 14th, 2007.  The opening ceremony was on June 26th, 2007 even though the bridge was not officially open to the public until May 1st, 2008. This is as of this posting the longest bridge in China and was built to last at least 100 years. 

Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a bridge with cable-stayed bridge portions across the Hangzhou Bay off the east coast of china.  The bridge was built in an s shape so that the annual silver dragon is minimally affected. The bridge has two main spans a 1,470 ft northern span and a 1,043 ft southern span.

The bridge has 6 express lanes in two directions. The speed limit is 62 miles per hour.   Orthotropic steel deck is used on its main spans and five ramp bridges, and was paved with 50 millimeters (2.0 in) epoxy asphalt concrete. 

The bridge uses different colors and flashing lights to keep drivers from getting drowsy and pay attention to the road instead.  Previously the trip from Ningbo to Shanghai and southern Jiangsu involved a detour of around 400 km (249 mi), the bridge reduces that distance to 80 km (50 mi), a reduction of 320 km (199 mi).

The result is that Ningbo, with its port at Beilun, will be able to compete with Shanghai’s port Pudong for international sea freight.

This is just one of the investments China has made in it’s transportation infrastructure in the past few years.  

The bridge is expected to boost tourism in Ningbo.  Again I do not have the figures on how much steel was used in the construction of this bridge but if you get it I will post it,  and as always if you have this information feel free to comment.

The Third bridge in this series, also the Third longest bridge in the world, and the second longest bridge over water.  The briidge is located in Louisiana, USA,  with a length of 23 Miles it comes in right behind  Lake Pontchatrain Causeway at (23.87 mi) and Bang Na Expressway (33.51 mi). we do not have much info about this bridge and I don’t know how much steel was used in it’s construction but if we get this information I will post it here, feel free to comment if you have these numbers.

The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway

also known as the Causeway is the worlds second longest bridge at 23.87 miles behind the Bang Na Expressway (33.51 mi) , the Causeway is the longest bridge in the world over water as of this posting. 

The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway crosses over Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana, USA.  The bridge connects Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans and Mandeville, Louisiana. 

Although I don’t have the numbers on the amount of steel used in the building of this bridge I do know there are over 9000 concrete pillings supporting the bridge. 

The The Lake Pontchatrain Causeway first opened in 1956 and was at that time a a two-lane span of 1/100th of a mile. bridges was expanded on and re opened on May 10th, 1969. This bridge is a toll bridge and always has been.

This is the first in our bridge series although a bridge is not the first thing you think of when you talk about Steel Buildings it is one of the first things you think about when you talk about Steel Structures, and although most bridges are not made mostly of steel, they almost all use a significant amount of steel, either as cables or more commonly steel used in reinforcing concrete ,with out the Steel most large structures today could not be possible, so lets start the Bridge Series with the Bang Na Expressway

 The Bang Na Expressway is a huge Conrete and Steel Bridge that streches 33.51 Miles to make it the longest Bridge in the world as of this posting.

The Bang Na Expressway is also known as the Burapha Withi Expressway  this Bridge is located in Bankok , Thailand.

Althought we don’t have the exact amount of steel used on this job we do have some other info for you and pictures.

Structure Elements

Foundation of main line

Main Column

Portal Frame

D2/D3 and D6

FOUNDATION OF MAIN LINE

1. SPUN PILE,
2. Dia800 mm (31.5″)
3. 120 mm wall thickness
4. wo sections welded
5. 16 piles per pier
6. PILE CAP,
7. 2.5 m(8.2″) thickness
8. Below the flow line

MAIN COLUMN

H – Shape, slender light appearance

Average height of 16 m (52.5’)

Cast-in-place

PORTAL FRAME

1. Toll plazas, merging areas of the ramps
2. Portal Frame with D2/D3 and D6 segments

PORTAL ERECTION TRUSS

1. Two components connected by a turntable
2. Launching girder with two main spans long
3. Erection girder with two portal spans long

Today we will be take a look at Wembley Stadium a massive Concrete and Steel Building. 

Amount of steel used in the construction 25,000 short tons

Amount of concrete used 90,000 m³

This is just in the structure of the stadium, this stadium has 90,000 seats all of which are under cover which makes this the stadium with the most seats under roof in the world.

There is 35 miles of heavy-duty power cables.

The stadium contains 2,618 toilets, more than any other venue in the world.

The stadium has a circumference of 0.6 miles

The total length of the escalators is ¼ mile

The 6,350 tonne roof covers an area of over (11 acres), four acres of which are movable and rise to 170 ft above the pitch.

The stadium is also the most expensive stadium ever built, roughly US$1.57 billion  at the time.

 The arch is 133 metres above the level of the external concourse.

The rows of seating, if placed end to end, would stretch 32.31 miles.

The archway is the world’s longest unsupported roof structure.

At peak construction there were over 3,500 workers working on the stadium.

Each of the two giant screens in new stadium is the size of 600 domestic television sets.

The Stadium opened to the public on March 17th 2007

It is owned by The Football Association (FA),  its primary use is for home games of the England national football team.

Monthly statistics for Crude Steel Production 2007

Click pictures to make larger

Another building from Austin, Texas that I would like to write about is The Brown Building a 10 story residential and office tower located at 710 Colorado St..  This building was completed in 1938 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.  The building was home to many significant companies throughout 20th century Austin, including the holding corporation for the Lyndon Johnson family.

The Texas Broadcasting Corporation operated from the building for many years around World War II, counting among its employees humorist Cactus Pryor and future governor John Connally.  A reserved garage parking spot is assigned to each loft. The secured Brown Building parking garage is attached to the building.  The building’s elegant lobby features Art Deco ornamentation with pink, green and yellow terrazzo floors and rose marble walls. To either side of the lobby are the Brown Bar and Gumbos restaurant. There is a small fitness center in the building solely for the use of residents.  It is a short walk to all that downtown Austin has to offer – including restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, shops, theatres, museums, Town Lake and many special events.

 The Brown Building has 90 units on 10 floors the building is 120 feet tall , units range from 638 – 2029 SF units are 1 and 2 bedrooms