Rion Antirion Bridge

The Rion Antirion Bridge which is officially the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge after the statesman, who first envisioned it, is the Worlds longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge. It crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rion on the Peloponnese to Antirion on mainland Greece. Its official name is the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge. Charilaos Trikoupis was a 19th century Greek prime minister, and suggested the idea of building a bridge between Rio and Antirrio however, the endeavour was too expensive at the time, when Greece was trying to get a late foot into the Industrial Revolution. The details of Rion Antirion Bridge is explained in world tour guides below.

The 2,880 m or 9,449 ft long bridge dramatically improves access to and from the Peloponnese, which could previously be reached only by ferry or via the isthmus of Corinth at its extreme east end. Its width is 28 m or 92 ft it has two vehicle lanes per direction, an emergency lane and a pedestrian walkway. Its five-span four-pylon cable-stayed portion of length 2,252 m or 7,388 ft is the world's second longest cable-stayed deck only the deck of the Millau Viaduct is longer at 2,460 m or 8,071 ft. However, as the latter is also supported by bearings at the pylons apart from cable stays, the Rio-Antirrio bridge deck might be considered the longest cable-stayed suspended deck.

This bridge is widely considered to be an engineering masterpiece owing to several solutions applied to span the difficult site. These difficulties include deep water, insecure materials for foundations, seismic activity, the probability of tsunamis, and the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth due to plate tectonics. The bridge was planned in the mid-1990s and was built by a French-Greek consortium led by the French group Vinci, and which includes the Greek companies Hellenic Technodomiki-TEV, J&P-Avax, Athena, Proodeftiki and Pantechniki.

The consortium operates the bridge under concession under its G.E.F.Y.R.A., Greek for bridge, French-Greek Carrier of Oversea Connection of Rio-Antirrio subsidiary. The lead architect was Berdj Mikaelian. Site preparation and dredging began in July 1998, and construction of the massive supporting pylons in 2000. With these complete in 2003, work began on the traffic decks and supporting cables. On May 21, 2004, the main construction was completed; only equipment sidewalks, railings, etc. and waterproofing remained to be installed. The bridge was finally inaugurated on August 7, 2004, a week before the opening of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The total cost of the bridge was about € 630,000,000, funded by Greek state funds, the consortium and loans by the European Investment Bank. It was finished ahead of its original schedule, which had foreseen completion between September and November 2004, and within budget.

Due to the peculiar conditions of the straits, several unique engineering problems needed to be considered. The water depth reaches 65 m, the seabed is mostly of loose sediment, the seismic activity and possibility of tectonic movement is significant, and the Gulf of Corinth is expanding at a rate of about 30 mm a year. For these reasons, special construction techniques were applied. The piers are not buried into the seabed, but rather rest on a bed of gravel which was meticulously leveled to an even surface. During an earthquake, the piers should be allowed to move laterally on the seabed with the gravel bed absorbing the energy. The bridge parts are connected to the pylons using jacks and dampers to absorb movement; too rigid a connection would cause the bridge structure to fail in the event of an earthquake. It was also important that the bridge not have too much lateral leeway either so as not to damage the piers. There is provision for the gradual expansion of the strait over the bridges lifetime.

On 28 January 2005, six months after the opening of the bridge, one of the cable links of the bridge snapped from the top of the M3 pylon and came crashing down on the deck. Traffic was immediately halted. The first investigation claimed that a fire had broken out on the top of the M3 pylon, after a lightning strike in one of the cables. The cable was immediately restored and the bridge re-opened. A structural Health monitoring system was installed during construction on the bridge. It is still in place today and provides a 24/7 surveillance of the structure.

The system has more than 100 sensors, including 3D accelerometers on the deck, pylons, stay cables, and on the ground to characterize wind movements and seismic tremors. Strain gages and load cells on the stay cables and their gussets. Displacement sensors on the expansion joints to measure the thermal expansion of the deck. Water-level sensors on the pylon bases to detect infiltration. Temperature sensors in the deck to detect freezing conditions. Linear variable differential transducer or LVDT sensors on the stay cables to measure movement. Load cells on the restrainers for recalibration in the event of an earthquake. Two weather stations to measure wind intensity, direction, air temperature, and relative humidity. One of the specific element of the system is the ability to detect and specifically treat Earthquake events.

Piatra Craiului Mountains

The Piatra Craiului Mountains are a mountain range in the Southern Carpathians in Romania. In Romanian Piatra Craiului means Rock of the King. The Piatra Craiului mountains form a narrow and saw-like ridge, which is about 25 km long. The highest elevation in the massif is the Varful La Om with 2238 m. The details of Piatra Craiului Mountains are explained in world tour guides below.

The ridge is regarded as one of the most beautiful sights in the Carpathians. The two day north-south ridge trail is both challenging and rewarding. Starting at either Plaiul Foii in the north-west or Curmatura in the north-east, walkers climb up to the ridge before following a somewhat precarious path along the narrow spine. The descent at the southern end leads into a karst landscape of deep gorges and pitted slopes where water penetrating the rock has carved a series of caves.

The massif is bordered in the west by the Dambovita Valley which separates it from the Papusa massif; in the north-west the river Barsa and Curmatura Foii separates it from the Fagaras Mountains and in the east the Rucar-Bran Passage delimits it from the Bucegi and Leaota mountains. The southern border is the confluence of the valleys of Dambovita and Dambovicioara rivers, in the Podul Dambovitei depression.

The whole range is included in the national park Parcul National Piatra Craiului or Piatra Craiului National Park. The first protection of this area started in 1938 when 4.4 km² were declared as a Nature Reserve. The Law 5/2000 enlarged this area to 148 km². In 2003 the external limits and internal zoning were created. Since 1999 a park administration has existed and since 2005 a management plan has been in place.

In the national park area about 300 fungi species, 220 lichen species, 100 different mosses, 1100 species of superior plants a third of the number of all plant species found in Romania, 50 Carpathians endemic species and also two endemic species for Piatra Craiului can be found. There are also 2 endemic species of spiders, 270 butterflies species, amphibians and reptiles, 110 birds species, 17 bats species, chamois and other large herbivores and also many large carnivores like wolves, brown bears, lynx living in the national park.

Zarnesti is the most important town for visiting the national park. It is also an ideal starting point for approaches in the northern part of the massif. This town lies at a distance of 28 km from the city of Brasov, by road, bus or railway. From Zarnesti, an 11 km long road makes the connection with the comfortable chalet "Plaiul Foii", which is a good starting point for climbing the ridge.

Also, from Zarnesti a forest road starts from the south-western part of the town, leading through the Zarnesti Gorges and further up to the ridge. In Zarnesti the office of the administration of the National Park can be found. A new visitor center has been built 1 km west of the town, but it is not currently open. The traditional villages Magura, Pestera, Ciocanu, and Sirnea are interesting starting points for the routes on the eastern slope and for getting in touch with the traditional Romanian way of life.

Commerzbank Tower

Commerzbank Tower is a skyscraper located in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany. After it was completed in 1997 it ranked as the tallest building in Europe until 2005 when it was surpassed by the Triumph Palace in Moscow. The tower is only two metres taller than the MesseTurm which is also located in Frankfurt. The MesseTurm was the tallest building in Europe before the construction of the Commerzbank Tower. The details of Commerzbank Tower is explained in world tour guides below.

With a height of 259 metres or 850 ft, 56 stories, it provides 121,000 m² or 1.3 million sq.ft. of office space for the Commerzbank headquarters, including winter gardens and natural lighting and air circulation. The signal light on top of the tower gives the tower a total height of 300.1 metres or 985 ft.

In its immediate neighbourhood are other high rise buildings including the Eurotower which is the home of European Central Bank, the Maintower, the Silver Tower, the Japan Center and the Gallileo skyscraper. The area is commonly known as Bankenviertel. It is also called as banking district or financial district.

It was designed by Foster & Partners, with Arup and Krebs & Kiefer structural engineering, J. Roger Preston with P&A Petterson Ahrens mechanical engineering, Schad & Holzel electrical engineering. Construction of the building began in 1994 and took three years to complete. The building is illuminated at night by a yellow light scheme which was designed by Thomas Ende who was allowed to display this sequence as a result of a competition.

When the building was planned in the early 1990s Frankfurt's Green Party, who governed the city together with the Social Democratic Party, encouraged the Commerzbank to design a 'green' skyscraper. The result was the world's first so-called ecological skyscraper: besides the use of 'sky-gardens' environmental- friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling.

The Commerzbank Tower is shaped as a 60 metres or 197 ft wide rounded equilateral triangle with a central, triangular atrium. At nine different levels, the atrium opens up to one of the three sides, forming large sky gardens. These open areas allow more natural light in the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting. At the same time it ensures offices in the buildings two other sides have a view of either the city or the garden.

In order to eliminate the need of supporting columns in the sky gardens, the building was constructed in steel instead of the conventional and cheaper concrete. It was the first skyscraper in Germany where steel was used as the main construction material. Commerzbank Tower appears in the Euro Contemporary tileset in SimCity 4 Deluxe or with Rush Hour. In 2007, Wrebbit released a 3D puzzle from the Towers Made To Scale Collection, which includes the Commerzbank Tower and the Messeturm in one box-set.

Muskau Park

The Muskau Park is the largest and one of the most famous English gardens of Germany and Poland. The Muskau Park is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in poland. It is also called as Muskauer Park, Furst Puckler Park and Park Muzakowski. The details of Muskau Park are explained in world tour guides below.

Muskau Park is situated in the historic Upper Lusatia region, it covers 3.5 square kilometers or 1.4 sq mi of land in Poland and 2.1 km2 or 0.8 sq mi in Germany. The park extends on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse river, which constitutes the border between the countries. The 17.9 km2 or 6.9 sq mi buffer zone around the park encompassed the German town Bad Muskau in the West and Polish Lęknica in the East. While Muskau Castle is situated west of the Neisse, the heart of the park are the partially wooded raised areas on the east bank called The Park on Terraces.

On July 2, 2004, the UNESCO inscribed the park on the World Heritage List, as an exemplary example of cross border cultural collaboration between Poland and Germany. It was inscribed to the list on two criteria for breaking new ground in terms of development towards the ideal man made landscape, and its influence on the development of landscape architecture as a discipline.

A fortress on the Neisse river at Muskau was first mentioned as early as in the 13th under the rule of Margrave Henry III of Meissen. The founder of the adjacent park was Prince Hermann von Puckler Muskau, the author of the influential Hints on Landscape Gardening and owner of the state country of Muskau since 1811. After prolonged studies in England, in 1815 during the time when the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia fell to Prussia, he laid out the Park. As time went by, he established an international school of landscape management in Bad Muskau and outlined the construction of an extensive landscape park which would envelop the town in a way not done before on such a grand scale.

The works involved remodelling the Baroque Old Castle actually a former castle gate - and the construction of a Gothic chapel, an English cottage, several bridges, and an orangery designed by Friedrich Ludwig Persius. Puckler reconstructed the medieval fortress as the New Castle, the compositional centre of the park, with a network of paths radiating from it and a pleasure ground influenced by the ideas of Humphry Repton, whose son John Adey worked at Muskau from 1822.

The extensions went on until 1845, when Puckler due to his enormous debts was constrained to sell the patrimony. The next year it was acquired by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who employed Eduard Petzold, Pucklers disciple and a well-known landscape gardener, to complete his design. Upon his death in 1881, he was followed by his daughter Princess Marie, who sold the estates to the Arnim noble family.

During the Battle of Berlin, both castles were levelled and all four bridges across the Neisse were razed. The Arnims were dispossessed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and since the implementation of the Oder Neisse line in 1945, the park has been divided by the state border between Poland and Germany, with two thirds of it on the Polish side. Not before the 1960s the Communist authorities slowly accepted the legacy of the Junker Prince Puckler. The Old Castle was rebuilt by the East German administration in 1965-72, while the New Castle and the bridges are still being restored.

Bruny Island

Bruny Island is an island off the south eastern coast of Tasmania, from which it is separated by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Storm Bay is located to the island's northeast. Both the island and the channel are named after French explorer Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Its traditional Aboriginal name was Alonnah Lunawanna, which survives as the name of two island settlements, Alonnah and Lunawanna. The details of Bruny Island are explained in world tour guides below.

Geologically, Bruny Island is actually two islands North Bruny and South Bruny that are joined by a long, narrow sandy isthmus. The holiday village of Dennes Point is located in North Bruny, while South Bruny is the site of the towns of Alonnah, Adventure Bay and Lunawanna. The Bruny Island is one of the tourist attraction and travel destinations to visit.

Outside its settlements the island is covered in grazing fields and large tracts of dry eucalyptus forest. Inland forests continue to be logged, but other large sections mostly along the southeastern coast are preserved as the South Bruny National Park. While the seaward side of the island features two long beaches Adventure Bay and Cloudy Bay it is for the most part extremely rugged, with cliffs of dolerite that tower over 200 metres above sea level, and which are amongst the highest sea cliffs in Australia. Brunys channel side is far more sheltered and a favourite fishing and recreational boating area for local and interstate visitors.

The island is accessed by vehicular ferry, funded by the State Government. Since 1954, four vessels have operated the Bruny Island Ferry service between the island and Kettering on the mainland. The service is currently plied by the Mirambeena, which is unusual for using a Voith Schneider propulsion system rather than a conventional propeller.

Bruny Island was originally inhabited by the Aborigines until European arrival, although there is still a large community of people who identify as Aboriginal. Abel Tasman tried to land in the vicinity of Adventure Bay in November 1642. In 1773 Tobias Furneaux discovered and named Adventure Bay; four years later on 26 January 1777 James Cook's two ships, the Resolution and Discovery stayed in the bay for two days. Cook carved his initials in a tree that was destroyed in a 1905 bushfire and is now commemorated by a plaque. In 1788 and again in 1792 William Bligh anchored in Adventure Bay.

The island itself however is named after the French explorer Bruni d'Entrecasteaux who explored the Channel region in 1792. It was known as Bruni Island until 1918, when the spelling was changed to Bruny. Since then the island has become known as a holiday location with surfing beaches, National Parks and historical sites. In more recent history the Bruny Island was the site of a land transfer by the state Government to local Aboriginal people.

A key contributor to Bruny Island's economy is its growing tourism industry. Being home to the South Bruny National Park, tourism on the island centres around the showcase of its natural assets. The Cape Bruny Lighthouse on 1838 is an iconic Australian lighthouse and was the oldest continuous lighthouse under operation by the Commonwealth. Now out of service, it has been transferred to the Tasmanian Government and is part of the South Bruny National Park. The main areas of Bruny Island or townships are Adventure Bay, Alonnah, Barnes Bay, Cloudy Bay, Dennes Point, Fluted Cape, Lunawanna and Simpsons Bay.

Europaturm

The Europaturm is a 337.5 meter or 1,107.3 ft high telecommunications tower in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. It is also called as Tower of Europe. The details of Europaturm are explained in World tour guides below.

The tower was designed by architect Erwin Heinle and the construction of tower was begun in 1974. At its completion five years later, it became the tallest free standing structure in the Federal Republic of Germany at 331 meters or 1,086 ft. Even without the height of the antenna at its top, the building still is over 295 meters or 968 ft high, which still makes it Germany second tallest structure, after the Fernsehturm Berlin 368 meters or 1,207 feet. Its base, at 59 meters or 194 ft thick, is the widest of any similar structure in the world.

The top of the tower can turn and provides a panoramic view of the Rhine Main area. For a number of years, the upper part of the structure housed a restaurant and discotheque, but since 1999, the Europaturm has been closed to the public. In September, 2004, the antenna at the top of the tower was replaced, increasing the total height to 337.5 meters or 1,107.3 ft. The six-ton antenna was lifted to the top in two parts by helicopter. The height of the tower is roughly equal to that of the Eiffel tower in Paris, which stands approximately 300 meters tall, less its 24-meter television antenna.

With the new antenna, the tower became capable of broadcasting high-definition digital television signals using the DVB-T standard which is the European counterpart to the ATSC digital standard used in the United States. It is capable of broadcasting four channels per transmitter, for a total of twenty-four channels, at 100 kilowatts per channel. It is capable of receiving satellite broadcasts and redistributing them via cable or terrestrial broadcasts.

The tower is owned and operated by T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. At night, it is illuminated with magenta lighting, the company's corporate colors. The tower is colloquially known as the Ginnemer Spaschel dialect of Frankfurt for The Ginnheimer Asparagus, or Ginnheimer Spargel in standard German, even though it is located in the Bockenheim of the City Ginnheim also a district, is a few meters away. The Fernsehturm or Television Tower was the first broadcast tower in Frankfurt.

Studley Royal Park

Studley Royal Park is a park containing, and developed around, the ruins of the Cistercian Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, England. It is a World Heritage Site. The site also contains features dating from the eighteenth century such as Studley Royal Water Garden.

The Fountains Abbey was founded in 1132 by thirteen Benedictine monks. They later became Cistercian monks. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII, the Abbey buildings and over 500 acres or 2.0 km2 of land were sold by the Crown to Sir Richard Gresham, a merchant. The property was passed down through several generations of Sir Richards family, finally being sold to Stephen Proctor who built Fountains Hall probably between 1598 and 1604. A remarkable Elizabethan mansion, Fountains Hall was built partly with stone from the Abbey ruins. Today there are two rooms open to the public.

John Aislabie inherited the Studley estate in 1699. A socially and politically ambitious man, he first became the Tory Member of Parliament for Ripon in 1695 and in 1718 became Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1720 disaster struck. Aislabie was a principal sponsor of the South Sea Company scheme, the bill for which was promoted by him personally. After this vast financial operation collapsed, he was expelled from Parliament and disqualified for life from public office.

Aislabie returned to Yorkshire and devoted himself to the creation of the garden he had begun in 1718. After his death in 1742, his son William extended his scheme by purchasing the remains of the Abbey and Fountains Hall. He also extended the landscaped area in the picturesque romantic style, contrasting with the formality of his father's work. Between them, the two created what is arguably England's most important 18th century Water Garden.

After Williams death, the estate passed to his daughter, then her niece. It escaped major reshaping and the garden and park passed to the Vyner family, descendants of the Aislabies. In 1966 the estate was purchased by West Riding County Council and was acquired by the National Trust in 1983. The Abbey part of the estate is currently managed by English Heritage on behalf of the National Trust. In 1986 the entire Park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Along with the Abbey itself and Fountains Hall, the Park contains a number of other notable historic features. The water garden at Studley Royal is one of the best surviving examples of a Georgian water garden in England.

The garden was created by John Aislabie in 1718. It was expanded by his son, William, after Aislabies death. William expanded the property, purchasing the adjacent Fountains Estate. The garden's elegant ornamental lakes, canals, temples and cascades provide a succession of dramatic eye-catching vistas. The garden is also studded with a number of follies including a neo-Gothic castle and a palladian style banqueting house. The 16th-century house at Studley Royal, rebuilt in Palladian style, as it appeared in 1880; it burned to the ground in 1946.

St Mary's Church was one of two, late Victorian, memorial churches in Yorkshire, built by the family of the First Marquess of Ripon in memory of Frederick Gratham Vyner. The other is the Church of Christ the Consoler at Skelton-on-Ure, and the architect of both was William Burges. Vyner was murdered by Greek bandits in 1870 and his mother, Lady Mary Vyner, and his sister, Lady Ripon, determined to use the unspent ransom, gathered to obtain his release, to build two churches in Vyners memory on their respective Yorkshire estates.

Burges appointment as architect was most likely due to the connection between his greatest patron, John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and Vyner, who had been friends at Oxford. St Mary's, on Lady Ripons estate at Studley Royal, was commissioned in 1870 and work began in 1871. The church was consecrated in 1878. As at Skelton, Burges' design demonstrates a move from his favoured Early-French, to an English style. Pevsner writes of a Victorian shrine, a dream of Early English glory. The interior is spectacular, exceeding Skelton in richness and majesty. The stained glass is of particularly high quality. St Mary's is Burges ecclesiastical masterpiece.

The church stands in a medieval deer park, home to 500 deer and a wealth of flora and fauna. The Deer Park once enclosed Studley Royal House, but this was largely destroyed by fire in December 1716 and had to be almost entirely rebuilt. The replacement building, was, in turn, extensively damaged by fire in 1946 and was demolished soon afterwards. Only the large stable block, built between 1728 and 1732, has survived. This is now a private house. Until about 2000 it belonged to Sir Paul Sykes, but has since been purchased by the author Susie Bulmer. The mill is the only 12th-century Cistercian cornmill left in the UK and the oldest 'intact' building on the estate.

Ferapontov Monastery

The Ferapontov Monastery in the Vologda region of Russia, is considered one of the purest examples of Russian medieval art, a reason given by UNESCO for its inscription on the World Heritage List. It is also called as Ferapontov convent. The details of Ferapontov Monastery are explained in world tour guides below.

The monastery was founded by Saint Ferapontov in 1398 in the inhospitable Russian North, to the east from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, named after his fellow monk, Saint Kirill of Beloozero. The fame of the monastery started to spread under Kirill's disciple, Saint Martinian, who was to become a father superior of the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra in 1447.

Even after Martinians death, his monastery was protected and favoured by members of Ivan IIIs family. The most ancient structure, the Cathedral of Nativity of the Virgin, was built in brick by the masters of Rostov. This edifice is the best preserved of three sister cathedrals erected in the 1490s in the Russian North. All the interior walls are covered with invaluable frescoes by the great medieval painter Dionisius.

During the 1530s, they added a treasury, a refectory, and the unique Annunciation church surmounted by a belfry. At that time the monastery enjoyed special privileges conferred upon it by Ivan the Terrible, and possessed some 60 villages in the vicinity. The tsar himself frequently visited the monastery as a pilgrim.

In the Time of Troubles, the monastery was ravaged by the Poles. During its recovery the last buildings the tent-like church of Saint Martinian 1641, a two-tented barbican church, and a bell tower was added to the complex. The belfry clocks are said to be the oldest in Russia.

As the monastery gradually lost its religious importance, it was being turned into a place of exile for distinguished clerics, such as the Patriarch Nikon. It was abolished by Emperor Paul in 1798, reinstituted as a convent in 1904, closed by the Bolsheviks twenty years later, and turned into a museum in 1975. The museum constitutes a part of the Russian North National Park since 1991.

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, also known as the Pearl Bridge, has the longest central span of any suspension bridge, at 1,991 metres or 6,532 ft. It is located in Japan and was completed in 1998. The bridge links the city of Kobe on the mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island by crossing the busy Akashi Strait. It carries part of the Honshu Shikoku Highway. The bridge is one of the key links of the Honshu Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three routes across the Inland Sea. The full details of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is explained in world tour guides below.

Before the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge was built, ferries carried passengers across the Akashi Strait in Japan. This dangerous waterway often experiences severe storms, and in 1955, two ferries sank in the strait during a storm, killing 168 children. The ensuing shock and public outrage convinced the Japanese government to develop plans for a suspension bridge to cross the strait. The original plan called for a mixed railway-road bridge, but when construction on the bridge began in April 1986, the construction was restricted to road only, with six lanes. Actual construction did not begin until May 1986, and the bridge was opened for traffic on April 5, 1998. The Akashi Strait is an international waterway that necessitated the provision of a 1,500-metre or 4,921 ft wide shipping lane.

The bridge has three spans. The central span is 1,991 m or 6,532 ft, and the two other sections are each 960 m or 3,150 ft. The bridge is 3,911 m 12,831 ft long overall. The central span was originally only 1,990 m or 6,529 ft, but the Kobe earthquake on January 17, 1995, moved the two towers sufficiently only the towers had been erected at the time so that it had to be increased by 1 m or 3.3 ft.


The bridge was designed with a two hinged stiffening girder system, allowing the structure to withstand winds of 286 kilometres per hour or 178 mph, earthquakes measuring to 8.5 on the Richter scale, and harsh sea currents. The bridge also contains pendulums that are designed to operate at the resonance frequency of the bridge to damp forces. The two main supporting towers rise 298 m or 978 ft above sea level, and the bridge can expand because of heating up to 2 metres or 7 ft over the course of a day. Each anchorage required 350,000 tonnes of concrete. The steel cables have 300,000 kilometres or 190,000 mi of wire each cable is 112 centimetres in diameter and contains 36,830 strands of wire.

The total cost is estimated at ¥500 billion, and is expected to be defrayed by charging commuters a toll to cross the bridge. The toll is ¥2,300 and is used by approximately 23,000 cars/day. Two parks in proximity of the bridge have been built for tourists, one in Maiko including a small museum and one in Asagiri. Both are accessible by the coastal train line.