Shimotsui-Seto Bridge, Suspension bridge in Seto Inland Sea, Japan.
The Shimotsui-Seto Bridge is a suspension bridge with a stiffening truss and a single main span of 940 m, carrying both road and rail between Kurashiki, Honshu, and Kagawa's Hitsuishijima. Its total length is 1,447 m, with piers 146 m high on the Honshu side and 149 m on the island side. On the Honshu side the main cable is anchored inside a tunnel bored through Mount Washu, so the anchorage itself is not visible.
Construction began in 1978 and the bridge opened in 1988, the same year it received the Tanaka Prize. It is the northernmost bridge of the Seto Ohashi crossing, linking Shimotsui-Tanoura in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, on Honshu, with Hitsuishijima in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture. Its central span of 940 m made it one of the world's longest suspension spans at the time.
The bridge carries both the Seto Chuo Expressway (National Route 30) and JR Shikoku's Honshu-Shikoku connecting line, so road and rail traffic share the crossing. Its midpoint marks the boundary between Okayama and Kagawa prefectures, a line a passenger can cross in seconds.
The bridge carries the Seto Chuo Expressway (National Route 30) and the JR Shikoku Main Line across the Seto Inland Sea. Its midpoint marks the boundary between Okayama and Kagawa prefectures. On the Honshu side the main cable enters a tunnel bored into Mount Washu, so the Honshu anchorage cannot be seen from outside.
The bridge features a hidden tunnel section at the Honshu end that conceals the main cable anchors underground. This clever engineering choice keeps the landscape less disrupted and shows how designers tried to minimize the structure's impact on the surrounding land.
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