This is engineering excellence on a grand scale! Standing astride Hong Kong’s Rambler Channel, the Stonecutters Bridge is a majestic and magnificent example of exceptional bridge design which testifies to the skill and ingenuity of those who designed and built it.
Taking as their starting point the original elegant conceptual design by the team who won the international design competition in 2000, the detailed design team led by Arup has developed and delivered the final design for this world class bridge very much in keeping with the intentions of the original designers.
Several major challenges had to be overcome, including constructing the bridge in a typhoon zone and dealing with the aerodynamic responses of the 1018m main span. Partly for this reason the bridge has twin streamlined steel box girders separated by a central air gap. Dynamic considerations also led to a complex top section for the 295m high monopole towers which have a high strength Duplex stainless steel composite outer skin. These and other challenges have been handled brilliantly by COWI who carried out the detailed design of the cable stayed main span as Arup’s principal sub-consultant.
The approach spans were not without their challenges either. The twin concrete girders have varying geometry and were cast in situ at high level on a forest of temporary formwork, with complex crosshead connections to the slender side span piers.
"This bridge is truly remarkable! A grand engineering achievement at every stage, it is a testimony to the ingenuity, skill and perseverance of all those many firms and individuals who have been involved in its making from conception to completion."