100-year-old Waibaidu bridge returns home

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The first steel bridge ever built in Shanghai has begun its return trip home. The southern section of the 100-year-old Waibaidu bridge is now on its way back to its original location at the mouth of Suzhou Creek.

ThefirststeelbridgeeverbuiltinShanghaihasbegun
itsreturntriphome.

Despite rain, barges carried half of the bridge down the Huangpu River to Suzhou Creek on Wednesday morning. Engineers moved the massive structure into place, and then let the rising tide lift it into position around 4pm.

While the bridge looks much like it did before it was removed for renovations, much has changed. 22 percent of the bridge's original steel was replaced with steel alloys to make the structure lighter but stronger. On top of that, about half of more 120 thousand rivets were replace to extend its life span. Even its shape has changed, from straight to arched. Engineers repaired a tripod support beam to return the bridge's appearance to the way it looked a hundred years ago. Renovations should expand its life expectancy by 50 years.