Hong Kong Gets a New Bridge

December 10, 1987

The Tsing Yi North Bridge in Hong Kong was officially dedicated. This prestressed balanced cantilever bridge, spanning the body of water known as Rambler Channel, connects the Tam Kon Shan Interchange on the northern part of Tsing Yi Island with the Tsuen Tsing Interchange (also called the Texaco Road Roundabout) in the town of Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong’s Western New Territories. The Tsing Yi North Bridge made its debut a decade before the longtime British colony and dependent territory of Hong Kong was formally transferred to the People’s Republic of China as an administrative region.

The dedication ceremony for the Tsing Yi North Bridge was officiated by David Clive Wilson, who represented the British Crown as governor of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1992. The bridge was opened to traffic the following day.

The Tsing Yi North Bridge had been designed by the British engineering company Scott Wilson Patrick & Partners to help reduce heavy traffic congestion on what was then Tsing Yi Island’s only bridge crossing Rambler Channel and serving as a link with the rest of Hong Kong. (That older structure is located on the southern part of the island; it has been known as the Tsing Yi South Bridge since 1987.) The Tsing Yi North Bridge was constructed by Maeda/Oriental Joint Venture, which initiated this project in 1984.

At the time of its opening, the Tsing Yi North Bridge — measuring 3,330 feet (1,015 meters) in length – was the longest bridge in Hong Kong. This record remained intact until 1998, when the 3,862-foot (1,177-meter)-long Ting Kau Bridge was opened between Tsing Yi Island’s northwestern side and the expressway Tuen Mun Road in Tsuen Wan.

Photo Credit: WiNG (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Tsing Yi North Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsing_Yi_North_Bridge