On November 12, 2024, local time in Zurich, Switzerland, the Tiantou Longtan Grand Bridge was awarded the highest honor for large highway and railway bridges at the 2024 International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) Awards Ceremony. The bridge, designed by Academician Zheng Jielian of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor at the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Guangxi University, was constructed by Guangxi Traffic Investment Group Co., Ltd., designed by Guangxi Transportation Design Group Co., Ltd., and built by Guangxi Road and Bridge Group Co., Ltd. The project, a collaborative effort over 43 months, marks a significant achievement in bridge engineering.

The Tian’e-Longtan Grand Bridge serves as a critical project of the Nandan–Tian’e–Xialao Expressway in Guangxi. Its main structure is a stiffened concrete arch bridge with a record-breaking span of 600 meters, surpassing the world’s previous largest concrete arch bridge, the KRK Bridge in the former Yugoslavia, by 210 meters. This achievement sets a new world record for concrete arch bridges, incmatchreasing the span by 155 meters in a single leap.

During its construction, the project team overcame numerous technological challenges, achieving significant innovations in areas such as the strength selection of the stiffened arch skeleton, external concrete casting techniques, concrete materials, stress reduction in the concrete, and optimization of longitudinal reinforcmatchement for the arch ribs. These breakthroughs have brought remarkable technological and economic benefits.

Founded in 1929, the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) is the largest international civil engineering association, with 4,200 members from over 100 countries and regions. The IABSE Awards are held annually to honor outstanding projects in bridge, building, and infrastructure construction. This year, 38 projects worldwide were shortlisted, including 13 from China.