It is the motives regarded as having come to consider that it is a thing with brilliant when being done, although having carry out the thought fairly disagreeable as a residents who lives just in a side during the term of construction, which took in no less than 10 years. I would like as many people as possible to know about the this huge bridge and started to making this page.

In addition, it was reproduced from the following part of a data and pictures used this time. I record here my warmest acknowledgements. 
    
　  * Honshu-Shikoku road news.
     * An official report of Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority.
     * Mini News published by Kobe City Civil Department.
     * An official report of the Bridge walk rally of Akashi strait.
     * A pamphlet of " Cable construction " by Kobe and Nippon Steel.
     * Kobe Newspaper.
     * " Construction of the main tower " by NHK educational TV.
     *HSBA (Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority) Homepage.

Pearl bridge, the world longest suspension bridge, has 297m of main towers height above sea level. Although in primary design the bridge was 3,910m long overall, with a center span of 1,990m, it was extended 1m by the  Hanshin Great Earthquake on January 17, 1995.

The materials used for construction was the scale to which a steel materials of 200,000 tons for the main tower, bridge girder and a cable etc. and a concrete of 1,420,000 m3 for the anchorages and a foundation of main tower. This is an unprecedented quantity of the material used.

Careful cautions and devices has been taken, so that to be able to bear a severe natural conditions such as 80m/sec. of wind velocity by the typhoon and an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 class that may happened once at a interval of 150 years of what intense.

Although, a main span was extended to 1,911m, since the foundation of the 3P tower ( island side ) was displaced about 1.1m to a south west direction together with the ground by the influence of Hanshin great earthquake, happened unhappily on January 17, 1995 during the  construction work.

However, a construction work has been continued, and consequently bridge length became a little more than 3,911m that planned as 3,910m. The bridge was started for public use on April 5, 1998.

  Master plan.

Stiffened girder       

  Main tower

Main tower section

Pearl bridge saw from the island side.

   (Link to HSBA  300,000Km long cable)

Main cable of the bridge is the material which has done the most important role, supporting an active load, such as girder and a vehicle through which it passes.

A main cable of the bridge is 1.220mm in diameter, and it bundles 36,830 elements of high strength galvanized steel wires with a diameter of 5.23mm, and was constructed by the Prefabricated Parallel Wires Strand method of construction ( PS method of construction ).

In place of a 160 kg/mm2 of the former high strength steel wire, newly developed 180 kg/mm2 steel wire of zinc plated was used for the first time in the world. Steel wire of this tensile strength is the highest level in the world and, seemingly, cannot manufactured except Japan.

Across over a strait of the pilot rope which is the beginning of  a cable construction was performed by stretching and passing a poly aramid fiber rope with a diameter of 10mm using a large sized helicopter.

The cable strand was marine transported from a steel wire manufacturer  to the Maiko base and pulled out from the Kobe side anchorage ( 1A ) to the island side (4A).

The procedure of a work which squeezed a main cable circularly, after constructing all cable strand is performed, then wrapping of a cable and paint will be performed after a cable band and a hanger rope are constructed, and stiffening girder is attached and connected.

A dehumidified air will be pumped into the cable covered continuously, and thus removed the moisture to prevent the steel wire may seldom rust. Oh, It's amazing !

the homepage of HSBA ( Honshu Shikoku Bridge Authority )