Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) completed in Chengdu a 295-meter-long bridge across the Jiangxi River, a tributary of the Tuojiang River in China’s Sichuan province. The bridge, which is the first in a series of interventions through Chengdu’s West Line Road, enhances essential travel routes across the southern border of the country and aims to make travel quick and easy.

The facility is composed of a 185-meter central span and 55-meter secondary spans and hosts road, cycle, and pedestrian walkways. The elegant and symmetrical design is composed of two primary steel arches, which lean together to touch tangentially at their crown, stabilizing the structure from lateral wind forces.

The arches rise to 30 meters and are linked together at the base by longitudinal box girders that run along the edge of the road deck. These ties resist the outward horizontal thrust of each arch, reducing the horizontal loads on the foundations.

The firm used structural analysis software to design a facility that can exceed the standards required for once-in200-year weather events.