Director of the Zhejiang Province transport bureau Chen Wei said the collapse of a section of the Qiantang River No 3 bridge reflected safety “issues and bugs” in the structure but the exact cause of the collapse was still being investigated.
Work has begun to clear the site and enable normal operations on the river overpass which usually handles around 80,000 vehicles a day.
The bridge has a history of major renovations since it opened in 1997 and has long been the subject of rumors that it may be structurally unsafe.
However, Chen told reporters that the bridge had passed quality tests before it opened.
Shanghai’s government website reports that the online community has begun to expose a history of concern about the bridge. Posts dating back to 2007 warned that the Qiantang River No 3 Bridge “is under critical condition” and claimed that Zhejiang provincial government vehicles never used it and that provincial authorities had listed it as unsafe.
Some Hangzhou residents said they had long worried about safety on the Qiantang Bridge. Their fears were sparked after the chief and deputy chief of the Qiantang Bridge project were removed from their posts in 2004 over bribery allegations. And in 2005 and 2009, the bridge was closed for lengthy periods for renovation to fix safety problems.
The bridge was originally designed to carry cargo trucks but they were soon banned after opening. Despite the ban, trucks were still seen using the bridge, according to Hangzhou residents.
