阿蘇長陽大橋, Box girder bridge in South Aso Village, Japan
The Aso Choyo Bridge (阿蘇長陽大橋) is a box girder bridge over the Kurogawa River in Minami-Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It has four spans carried by three hollow piers that rise above a deep river valley.
The bridge was built in 1997, replacing a stone arch bridge from 1900 that stood at the same crossing. It was also used as a route to move materials during the construction of the nearby Tateno Dam.
A stone plaque on the bridge displays poems carved by the poet couple Tekkan and Akiko Yosano. Stopping to read it gives a sense of how this valley has long drawn writers and travelers.
The bridge sits on a main road connecting Kumamoto city to the Minami-Aso area and is easy to reach by car. It reopened in August 2017 after repairs following the 2016 earthquake, and the route has been fully open since then.
The central pier rises about 73 meters from its foundation to the girder, which is unusually tall for a bridge of this type, driven by the uneven depth of the river gorge below. This also means the four spans are not equal in length, giving the bridge an asymmetric profile when seen from the side.
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