Yangpu Bridge, Cable-stayed bridge in Shanghai, China
Yangpu Bridge is a cable-stayed road bridge over the Huangpu River in Shanghai, carrying the Inner Ring Road between Yangpu District and Pudong. Its two inverted-Y pylons rise 223 meters, and its 602-meter main span is part of a 1,172-meter bridge proper within an 8,354-meter total length. The 30.35-meter deck holds six traffic lanes; there are no pedestrian walkways.
Work on the bridge started in April 1991 and it opened to traffic in October 1993, completed in under three years. At that time, its main span of 602 meters made it the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, a record it held for about two years.
The bridge's name on each pylon was hand-written by Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who pushed for a bridge instead of another tunnel. The bridge was originally unpainted and was coated in red for the millennium. Drivers crossing see the calligraphy on the towers.
The bridge is restricted to motor vehicles at all times; pedestrians and cyclists are not allowed on the deck and must use ferries to cross the Huangpu River. The Inner Ring Road crossing has no sidewalks or non-motorized lanes, so plan your crossing by ferry or another bridge.
Although Yangpu Bridge is often overshadowed by the nearby Nanpu Bridge, it was completed just two years after it and surpassed its main span by a wide margin. Both bridges were built as part of the same city infrastructure plan, forming two of Shanghai's earliest major crossings east of the city center.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,117 contributors worldwide.
