MacRobert Award

1998 Finalist

Mott MacDonald for the Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong

The Tsing Ma Bridge was opened in May 1997 and is the world's longest span bridge capable of carrying both road and rail traffic. The bridge is the key element of the Lantau Link, the all-weather fixed crossing between the densely populated area of Kowloon and Hong Kong's new airport at Chek Lap Kok. The team from Mott MacDonald were faced with the challenge of designing a long-span bridge able to withstand typhoon winds of up to 290 km/h; an engineering challenge that had never been attempted before. The bridge had to carry a dual three-lane expressway and two high-speed railway tracks and be able to continue operations in very high winds.

To meet these challenges the team developed an extremely compact streamlined and vented deck cross-section with the railway track and emergency traffic lanes sheltered inside. Extensive wind tunnel model testing was carried out to develop the optimum arrangement to ensure the bridge's aerodynamic stability in typhoon winds.

The long span of the bridge and the high performance criteria for the railway demanded that Mott MacDonald develop an entirely innovative, minimum-weight track design that would minimise vibration, and hence noise.

 

 

Updated July 2012

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