Original news was published on 30 August, 2016

Construction crews using a specially designed cable-crane mechanism Aug. 21 lifted and lowered into place the first of 66 prefabricated deck sections for a new suspension bridge under construction on the Yangtze River in Hubei Province.

The lifting of the first, 221-ton “steel box girder” marked a major step forward for the project to build the longest-span suspension bridge across the upper Yangtze at Gaoxiapinghu, near Three Gorges Dam, according to a Ministry of Transportation report.

Each, 16-meter-by-32 meter bridge deck section is being delivered to the site by river barge and then lifted by crane about 150 meters into the air before being fitted to the bridge deck. The crane is suspended and can move on cables strung between the bridge’s two towers.

The lifting operation for the first section took seven hours, the report said. The entire operation, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, will altogether require lifting 14,500 tons of deck sections from barge to bridge.

The suspension bridge is part of an ongoing effort to improve the highway network in the Chongqing region as well as boost the upper Yangtze region’s economy.

*NEWS SOURCE