A new bridge in the mountains of southern Taiwan, boasting the nation’s tallest bridge pier at 99m, opened for traffic on Saturday.
Guchuan Bridge (谷川大橋) is the only link to the outside for the isolated mountain village of Wutai (霧台) in Pingtung County, and was completed after four years of construction in difficult terrain.
The bridge spans the valley of Ailiaobei River (隘寮北溪), and is 654m long and 10m wide, replacing an original bridge, known as Wutai No. 1 Bridge, which was destroyed by debris and floodwater during tMorakot Typhoon in August 2009.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
A Directorate General of Highways official said the new bridge design addressed possible damage by flash floods during the typhoon season by increasing the distance between bridge piers, and only one pier set within the regular river flow.
That bridge pier stands at a height of 99m, which is equal to a 33-story building. It is now the highest bridge pier in Taiwan,” the official said, who declined to be named.
“The diameter of the bridge pier is about the same as the deck of the bridge at 10m. It is designed to withstand the erosion of the river’s rushing waters. Local residents should have no worries that the bridge piers will get washed out by flood waters,” he added.
The official said there were many problems that were overcome during the bridge construction.
“At times, in this mountain area we had strong winds of 5 to 6 [on the Beaufort wind scale]. Also we had thunder strikes and heavy rains. It was very difficult in those conditions. Due to this and other dangers, we had quite a few workers who got scared, walked out and quit,” he said.
“Eventually, we overcame all the tough challenges and were able to finish the project with a perfect record of ‘zero accidents’ across the 1,023 days of construction,” the official added.
With a total cost of NT$ 700 million (US$ 23.86 million), the concrete and steel structure links Wutai Township to Sandimen Township (三地門) of Pingtung County.
The two areas are inhabited mostly by Rukai and Paiwan Aborigines.
Wutai Township head Yen Chin-cheng (顏金成) said people are now no longer living on an isolated island.
“The new Guchuan Bridge is an important link for us to the outside world. It will benefit our local tourism and economic development,” Yen said.
He said that the bridge improves the lives of villagers, and also provides a safe access road for visitors heading into the mountains to enjoy the scenery, viewing of cherry blossoms in the spring, and making a trip to the area’s main tourist attraction, Shenshan Falls (神山瀑布).
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS