{"id":1021,"date":"2008-12-09T21:54:56","date_gmt":"2008-12-09T12:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-09\/1021"},"modified":"2008-12-09T21:54:56","modified_gmt":"2008-12-09T12:54:56","slug":"heavy-lifting-supporting-the-longest-suspension-bridge-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-09\/1021","title":{"rendered":"Heavy Lifting: Supporting the Longest Suspension Bridge in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 31 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWe May Be Individually Weak, but Working Together...<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

On our trip to\nTakamatsu<\/a> this time last year for a concert,<\/span> we drove across the Akashi\nStraights Bridge<\/a> (\u660e\u77f3\u6d77\u5ce1\u5927\u6a4b),<\/span> which, with a main<\/span> span of almost 2km long, is the\nlongest suspension bridge in the world. The whole<\/span> bridge itself is 3,911\nmeters long.<\/p>\n\n

A mile or so past the southern end is a big<\/span> parking area with shops, a\nlittle<\/span> park, and (of all things) a Ferris<\/span> wheel (“the largest at a highway<\/span>\nrest stop in Japan, if not the world”).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>350 sec, f<\/span>\/3.2, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nScale<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

There's also a section of the main suspension cable on display...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCable Cross Section of 36,830 Individual Strands<\/span>\nwith the 4km long bridge in the background\n<\/div>\n\n

Just looking at the steel wire that goes into making the big main cables\ninvolves some staggering numbers. This plate was affixed to the\ndisplay...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nstats on the\n“Akashi Kaikyou Big Bride Cable”<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Each individual steel strand is 5.23mm in diameter (a bit<\/span> more than a\nfifth<\/span> of an inch), and there are 127 such strands in each of the 290\nhexagon-shaped bundles that make up the cable. Grand total: 36,830 strands,\nwith a diameter<\/span> of 112cm (3.7 feet).<\/p>\n\n

Assuming that the cutaway on display is one meter long, that puts the\ntotal length of its strands, if placed end on end, at almost 23 miles! In just that<\/span> little cutaway display. It weighs<\/span> over 27,000 pounds.<\/p>\n\n

A pair of these cables span the entire length of the bridge, draped\nacross two towers and anchored on either side. Each is 4,073 meters\nlong, putting the end-to-end length of the individual strands at over\n150,000km (93,211 miles). Each. Adding the strands from the two cables\ntogether will get you more than three quarters of the way to the moon.<\/p>\n\n

Trivia: after a big\nearthquake<\/a> hit this area in 1995, the two towers found themselves one\nmeter further apart. Hence, the main span, which was supposed to have been\n1,990 meters upon completion, ended up being 1,991 meters when construction\nwas finally completed three years later.<\/p>\n\n

Oh, and speaking of trivia, if you didn't guess it, this is the answer to yesterday's quiz<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, we took a ride in the Ferris wheel...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“Largest Highway-Rest-Stop Ferris Wheel in Japan”<\/span>\nwoo-hoo!<\/i>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nKids Play Area Down Below<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nConcrete-Desert Rest Area<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking South<\/span>\na bit of spark in the sunset brightens up a dreary<\/span> day\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 120 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/4.8, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCity of Akashi Lit Up By the Sunset<\/span>\nbehind the southern tower\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On our trip to Takamatsu this time last year for a concert, we drove across the Akashi Straights Bridge (\u660e\u77f3\u6d77\u5ce1\u5927\u6a4b), which, with a main span of almost 2km long, is the longest suspension bridge in the world. The whole bridge itself is 3,911 meters long.<\/p>

A mile or so past the southern end is a big parking area with shops, a little park, and (of all things) a Ferris wheel (\"the largest at a highway rest stop in Japan, if not the world\").<\/p>

There's also a section of the main suspension cable on display...<\/p>

Just looking at the steel wire [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}