Dragon Bridge gets US engineering award

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) presented the engineering Excellence Award to the Rong (Dragon) Bridge which spans the Han River in the central city.

The award was presented at the Grand Award ceremony in Washington DC, the US, on April 30.


The bridge, which was designed by the Luis Berger Group and Ammann & Whitney, was among eight works to receive awards at this year's event.

"The dragon bridge is the pride of DaNang's people. We are honoured to receive the prize. The bridge will help connect Viet Nam with friends across the world," Vice Chairman of the city's People's Committee Vo Duy Khuong said at the award ceremony.

Architect Tom Andesson said he had designed the bridge after being inspired by the legendary story of the Dragon and the Fairy, which is about the origin of the Vietnamese people.

The 666-metre Rong Bridge, which was inaugurated last year, connects the main road with the airport and the My Khe beach in the Son Tra peninsula, and the UNESCO-recognised world heritage Hoi An City.

The dragon-shaped bridge is designed to breathe fire from the dragon's head on Saturday and Sunday nights, while spraying water during the day.

The 500-metre long body of the dragon was built using five 1.2-metre arched steel pipes which weigh a total of 1,000 tonnes. The six-lane bridge is illuminated by 5,000 LED lights at night.

The dragon's head is inspired by the stone dragon with a lotus-shaped tail from the Ly Dynasty.

The central city's department of transport has registered the Rong Bridge with the Guinness World Records as being the ‘largest steel dragon'.

In January, the lighting design of the Bridge was shortlisted for the Lighting Design award at the 2013 FX International Design Awards in London and the 2014 Lighting Design Awards for International Projects (Interiors) category.