Challenge
Shenyang is the provincial capital and the largest city of Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China, as well as the largest city in Northeast China by urban population. The East Tower Bridge on the Hunhe River has a total length of 1290 meters and is a key project in Shenyang’s comprehensive upgrading plan. During construction, the project needed to monitor the cables and main tower of the 1300 meter suspension bridge all the way from their site office in order to ensure the safety of motorists. They also needed real-time monitoring of the bridge’s loading capacity, stability and structure.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the Cisomang bridge had to be refurbished after one of the pillars got deformed and shifted causing alarm with the locals and authorities. It reached a point when trucks were not allowed to cross, traffic to the bridge had to be reduced and the state railway had to increase trips just to compensate for the diverted traffic.
Also in Indonesia, The Kutai Kartanegara Bridge (also known as the Mahakam II Bridge) was a 710-meter-long suspension bridge crossing the Mahakam River that was intended to resemble San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge collapsed in 2011, killing at least 11 people and injuring 39. It was rebuilt and reopened in 2015 but more stringent monitoring had to be put in place to prevent another tragedy in the future.