Great Seto Bridge
Seto Ōhashi (Japanese瀬 戸 大桥, Large Setobrücke ') is called a bridge viaduct combination of the Seto Inland Sea. It combines the Okayama Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu with the city of Takamatsu ( Kagawa Prefecture ) on the island of Shikoku.
When it was completed in 1988 Seto Ōhashi was the first bridge connection between Honshu and Shikoku. It was followed by 1998, the Kobe - Awaji - Naruto Expressway between Kobe and Naruto and 1999 Nishiseto highway between Onomichi ( Hiroshima Prefecture) and Imabari ( Ehime Prefecture).
The bridge complex
The Seto Ōhashi divided into three hinged, two cable-stayed bridges, a normal steel truss bridge and four viaducts / elevated roads on five of the Shiwaku Islands (塩 饱 诸岛Shiwaku - shotō ). The total length is 13.1 km, with 9368 m above the water run, and the average height of the bridge pylons 160 m. It took just under ten years.
The bridges are consistently doppelgeschossig. The 35 -meter-wide upper deck (that is, two in each direction) taken in a total width of 22.5 meters from the four lanes plus center and side strips of the Seto - Chuo Expressway to complete. On the 30 meter wide lower deck, the two-pronged JR Seto Ōhashi - line runs, so there is enough space for a second pair of tracks, which is a future Shinkansen connection. The height of the two-storey bridge body is 13 meters.
The use of the bridge complex is a toll road and costs 3500 yen per ride, which at € 1 = ¥ 142: equivalent to about 25 euros (as of April 7, 2014 ).
Compared to the ferry, which takes about an hour for the crossing of Uno to Takamatsu, the Seto Ōhashi binds with a journey time of about 15 minutes Shikoku much better to the metropolitan areas of Japan on Honshu on, especially since they are less even during a storm than the waterway. The bridge complex is earthquake resistant and can withstand typhoons.
History
A railway bridge over the Seto Inland Sea at this point has already been proposed in 1889 by Okubo Jinnojō (大 久保 谌 之 丞). Buoyancy got the idea but only when in 1955 a ferry struck leak in dense fog off Takamatsu and 168 people died. After various preparatory conferences and studies, the Honshu - Shikoku Bridge Authority was founded in 1970. After overcoming the oil crisis of 1973 to 1978 published an environmental impact analysis and began construction. It took almost ten years and cost approximately 1.1338 trillion yen. There 705,000 tons of steel and 3.646 million cubic meters of concrete were used. It involved around 2,000 companies. Although it has been worked to the highest safety standards with nets and rescue ropes, cost of construction 13 workers life. On 10 April 1988, the line for the movement has been released.