Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge 武汉长江大桥
Coordinates	30°32′59″N 114°17′18″E / 30.5497°N 114.2882°E / 30.5497; 114.2882Coordinates: 30°32′59″N 114°17′18″E / 30.5497°N 114.2882°E / 30.5497; 114.2882
Carries	4 lanes Highway 2 tracks of the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway
Crosses	Yangtze River
Locale	Wuhan, Hubei, China
Other name(s)	Wuhan Great Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Truss bridge
Total length	1,670 metres (5,480 ft)
Width	22.5 metres (74 ft)
Longest span	128 metres (420 ft)
History
Constructed by	Wuhan Great Bridge Engineering Bureau
Construction begin	1 September 1955
Construction end	September 1957
Opened	15 October 1957
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge Location in Hubei

The Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge (simplified Chinese: 武汉长江大桥; traditional Chinese: 武漢長江大橋; pinyin: Wǔhàn Chángjiāng Dàqiáo), commonly known as Wuhan First Yangtze Bridge, is a double-deck road and rail bridge across the Yangtze River in Wuhan, in Central China. At its completion in 1957, the bridge was the easternmost crossing of the Yangtze, and was often referred to as the "First Bridge of the Yangtze".

The bridge extends 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) from Turtle Hill in Hanyang, on the northern bank of the Yangtze, to Snake Hill in Wuchang, on the southern bank of the Yangtze. Plans for the bridge's construction were first made in 1910. A total of four exploratory surveys were made between 1913 and 1948 to identify a suitable site, but economic limitations and the combination of World War II and the Chinese Civil War prevented the bridge's building until the 1950s. Actual construction began in September 1955 and was completed in October 1957.

The upper level of the bridge is a two-way, four-lane automobile highway. The lower level is a double-track railway on the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line.

The Wuhan metropolis is an amalgamation of three cities situated at the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze: Wuchang, located on the southern bank of the Yangtze, Hanyang, located on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the west bank of the Han, and Hankou, located on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the eastern bank of the Han. Wuhan lies at the heart of Central China and is a hub from transportation between the Central Plain in northern China and the trading ports of Guangzhou and Hong Kong in southern China. The Beijing-Wuhan railway line went into full service in 1906, followed in 1936 by the Wuhan-Guangzhou railway line. Between that time and the bridge's completion in 1957, railway cars travelling between northern and southern China had to be ferried over the Yangtze on barges, a laborious and dangerous practice.