The Ma'anshan Yangtze River Bridge was recently awarded the George Richardson Award, the top prize in the bridge industry, at the 33rd International Bridge Conference (IBC). 

The George Richardson Award is the earliest and most influential award set up by the IBC. It is regarded as the Nobel Prize of the bridge world and comes with international prestige. 

The Ma'anshan Yangtze River Bridge is a bridge complex over the Yangtze River in Ma'anshan, in east China's Anhui province. With a total cost of 7.1 billion yuan, the bridge carries a six-lane highway over two branches of the Yangtze and the island of Xiaohuangzhou in the middle of the river. It is 36.14 kilometers in length and 11.209 kilometers across.

The bridge over the left branch is a suspension bridge with three towers that spans 1,080 meters. This section is tied with the Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge as the longest double span suspension bridge in the world. The bridge over the right branch is a cable-stayed bridge with three towers that spans 260 meters. 

With a designed life span of 100 years, the bridge opened to traffic on Dec. 31, 2013.