Road Construction

The area I moved to when Jim left China could be considered a suburb of the urban sprawl that is Shanghai. There are new elevated roads being constructed in this area, because there are plans to put in more railways, and I think one that will eventually connect Shanghai and Beijing.

Anyways, the changes that the local landscape has undergone since Jim left 2 months ago is unbeleivable. I no longer commute in on the roads with the contruction on it on a daily basis, so I really only see these changes on the weekends, and am always amazed at how drastic the changes are from week to week. I decided it would be neat to post some pictures of what elevated road construction looks like in China.

Disclaimer: I don't have any background in construction, so I'm sure some of the terminology I use will be humorous to anyone who does. This post would probably be much more informational if Jim were posting it - but he's not here - so you are all stuck with me. :)

First the buildings in the path of the new roadway have to come down, and the first picture shows a common sight, a hollowed shell of a building before demolition. I think this building used to be an apartment building. Along with the roads being constructed there is construction for a lot of new apartment buildings. I would estimate that the new buildings are at least 15 stories tall.

Next the 'legs' of the elevated roads are built. Scaffolding is errected as the legs are constructed. I think most of this scaffolding material is wood/bamboo.As the height of the legs increases so does the height of the scaffolding. The short legs are not as interesting or amazing.

Can you see the guy on top of the scaffolding on the right-most leg?

Panoramic shot of more tall legs.

Once the legs are done, other stuff is put on top of them with cranes. I don't know what these things are called, its just huge. I sure hope that concrete had time to set...

Then, more scaffolding! In this picture its some type of metal, as opposed to the wooden scaffolds used when the legs are constructed. I am almost certain that this scaffold is used as a support on which the forms for the roads are built.















View of the forms atop of the metal scaffolding. Notice the zig-zagging bamboo scaffolding running up along the metal scaffolding behind the light post. All the pictures were taken from inside a taxi. I couldn't crop the door out of this one.

Another view of the legs, forms and scaffolding.













View of part of the new road once the scaffolding is removed. That's it, I know my comments got shorter, but I think the pictures say a lot where I didn't.