Rebuildingwork on Changchunand Chunhui bridges on the old Central Cross-Island Highway was begun after they weredemolished last year. The rebuilding of the bridges was completed on time as aresult of the energetic efforts of the construction units involved. Aftercarrying out safety inspections, Taroko National Park Headquarters held asimple opening ceremony at 5pm on April 25 and the bridges were officiallyopened to traffic at 8 am on April 26, once again allowing visitors to reachEternal Spring Shrine.

Theoriginal bridges were completed in 1958 and were suffering from severecorrosion that experts judged presented a safety threat; consequently, toprotect the safety of users, the national park HQ set about rebuilding thebridges in 2013, and work was completed on time as a result of the tirelessefforts of the construction units. The new ChangchunBridge is 60.7 meters long and 3.7meters wide; Chunhui Bridge is 39.4 meterslong and 3.7 meters wide. The two bridges have a pedestrian path(s) in additionto a one-way lane for vehicles; ChangchunBridge has a 0.9 meter wide path oneach side, while Chunhui Bridge has a 1.2 meterpath on one side.

Thesetwo bridges must be crossed to reach Changchun Shrine (Eternal Spring Shrine) whichmeant that the Shrine was closed while construction work went ahead. With theopening of the new bridges, the Changchun Shrine Trail has also been reopened.

Newsissued by Taroko National Park Headquarters

Translatedby Kevin Lax