Xihu Bridge

Xihu Bridge

Xihu Bridge

The widest highway bridge in Benxi City, Xihu Bridge spans the Taizi River and was originally named Dongfen Bridge. Located upstream of the urban section of the Taizi River, it serves as a crucial transportation link between the Pingshan and Xihu districts, and is also a main bridge on the Shenyang–Dandong Highway bypass. The bridge was first built in 1937 as a 9-span double-cantilever steel plate girder with a double-column concrete structure. It had a total length of 273.1 meters and a deck width of 7.5 meters, with no sidewalk and a load capacity of 8 tons. After the liberation, with the rapid economic development of Benxi and increasing urban traffic flow, the bridge could no longer meet the needs of the new situation. In 1981, the Benxi Municipal People's Government decided to renovate Xihu Bridge. The project was designed by the Municipal Design Office and constructed by the Municipal Engineering Company, the First Municipal Construction Company, and the Municipal Installation Company. The bridge body was expanded on the upstream side of the original bridge, resulting in a total length of 285.8 meters and a clear deck width of 8.5 meters (including a 7-meter vehicle lane and a 1.5-meter sidewalk), with a 3-meter-wide median strip between the old and new sections (for one-way traffic), and 1.5-meter-wide sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. The renovation project was completed on July 1, 1982, and the bridge was renamed Xihu Bridge. The renovated Xihu Bridge has a total width of 19.5 meters. In January 1984, construction began on the approach road on the Dongfen side of the expanded section of the bridge, which was completed on September 30 of the same year.