The much-anticipated Danjiang Bridge (淡江大橋) is scheduled to open for traffic on May 12 next year after the final bridge segment was successfully installed yesterday, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
President William Lai (賴清德) and other officials attended a ceremony yesterday, in which they witnessed the closure of the main bridge span.
The bridge, which connects New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts, would help ease the traffic on Guangdu Bridge (關渡大橋) by 30 percent and that on Highway No. 2 by 17 percent, Lai told the participants at the ceremony.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
It would also facilitate journeys to New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), downtown areas in Taipei and New Taipei City, and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, he said.
Designed by the late Iraqi British architect Zaha Hadid, the bridge would serve not only as transportation infrastructure, but also as an architectural work of art, Lai said, adding that the bridge design was inspired by dances performed by Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Troupe and the sunset at Tamsui.
CNN has listed the bridge as one of the top 11 architecture projects set to shape the world this year, he added.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The architecture demonstrates the resilience and spirit of Taiwanese, and skillfulness of the construction team, Lai said.
“The Highway Bureau failed to secure contractors after seven tenders due to the technical challenges of building a single-pylon cable-stayed bridge with a tower curving in all three dimensions. Some had suggested a two-dimensional tower be built. Fortunately, the government decided to follow the original bridge design. It would be an embarrassment if Taiwanese could not fulfill the vision of a world-class architect,” he said.
Danjiang Bridge will be the first landmark that air travelers see when they fly over the area, he said.
Aside from Danjiang Bridge, Lai also pledged to support the construction of Tambei Highway (淡北道路) and Tamhai Light Rail (淡海輕軌), although he said that local governments might not receive much subsidies from the central government as they used to following the approval of amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).
“Local governments would have to shoulder more responsibility now they have more funding at their disposal. I hope that both the ruling and opposition parties work together to find solutions to the problems with the act to ensure balanced and sustainable development of different localities,” Lai said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said the ministry nearly gave up on the project, but it was able to proceed because of the perseverance of then-Highway Bureau director-general Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯), who is deputy minister of transportation and communications, and Lai, the then-premier, he said, adding that the Executive Yuan in 2018 raised the budget for the project to NT$21.2 billion (US$704.3 million) from NT$15.4 billion, with the funding allocated to build the main bridge section rising to NT$12.5 billion from NT$8.4 billion.
Following the installation of the final segment, the bridge deck at the Bali end would be 120cm lower than that at the Tamsui end, which is normal, he said, adding that the bridge deck would subsequently be lifted with stay cables to level it out.
Every weld on the bridge was carried out according to the same standards used in nuclear power plant construction, he said.
The construction team aims to meet the criteria to open the bridge for traffic by April next year, the Highway Bureau said.
Between now and April, the team would still need to lay the dense asphalt concrete, adjust the cable force, install landscape lighting poles, noise barriers and other auxiliary facilities, and conduct bridge structural load tests, it said.
The total project budget would be NT$23.038 billion, with the New Taipei City Government covering NT$8.566 billion, including NT$1.33 billion for the Danhai MRT extension. The remaining costs are to be shared by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications at NT$7.237 billion and the Ministry of the Interior’s National Land Management Agency at NT$7.236 billion.
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