Domains
Bridges & other Structures
Client
Government of Macau
Time frame
Construction cost
$55'000'000
Services
- Design
Phases
- Preliminary studies
- Construction design
- Preliminary design
The Project
The Friendship Bridge has become one of Macau’s many attractions. Open since 1994, it is the longest of the three bridges crossing the Bay of Praia Grande in the South China Sea with a total length of 4’400 m. It’s comprised of two cable-stayed bridges with 112-meter spans and reaches a maximum height of 30 meters, allowing ships to pass beneath. Most of the bridge uses viaducts with 35-meter spans and a system of piles to ensure continuous operation.
Friendship travels over the waves of the sea
Macau consists of a single peninsula and two islands. One of these, the island of Taipa, is connected to the peninsula by several bridges. At 3 km, the longest and most impressive of these is the ‘Ponte da Amizade’ (Friendship Bridge), which is crossed by the millions of visitors every year who land at the international airport and travel to Taipa. In Macau, Asian exotic charm meets Portuguese colonial architecture. The result is futuristic buildings such as the Macau Tower, more than 300 meters high, and the luxurious hotels and casinos in the ‘Las Vegas of the Orient’. The Friendship Bridge was prefabricated in nearby Chinese shipyards. A fourth bridge connecting the peninsula and Taipa is currently under construction as the island’s transformation continues.
When built, the Friendship Bridge was important for improving the mobility in the territory of Macao but also, to no lesser extent, as a political symbol of the cooperation between Portugal and China
The immaterial dimension of the bridge as a link between the past and the future was counterbalanced by the harsh reality of a de- sign-build tender. The challenge of a functional, aesthetically pleasing and yet economic crossing that comprises a South Trestle, Inner Bridge over the access channels to the port, Outer Bridge over the two access channels to the Passenger Terminal and North Trestle was addressed by the extensive use of precasting at highly competitive production and transport costs. The choice has proved to be the right one.
