Jason’s Design of Gibraltar Bridge

2010-04-06T13:49:00.001-07:00

Jason was my son. He was born on November 8, 2000 and passed away on August 22, 2009 and only lived 3209 days on earth. He learned to read very early and had a great memory. He was an avid fan of modern science and technology and always full of questions. When he was crippled by his disease, he would spend the whole day reading Wikipedia, watching “Modern Marvels” in the Historical Channel and so on. He was especially fascinated by bridges and huge buildings such as the Dubai tower.

One day in 2008 he watched a video about designing the bridge for Gibraltar and became immediately attracted. He then searched all relevant information such as the famous designs by Prof. T Y Lin and Eugene Tsui documented in this website . Somehow he had this creative idea to combine the designs to solve the problem. He told me his idea and at first I was just treating it as a child’s talk, but later I felt it could really work. Later we got very busy fighting his disease but he ultimately succumbed to it. I buried his design in my mind because sadness always occupies me whenever I think of him. Now almost a year has past and I realize that the best way to memorize him is to publish his design which could make a difference in the world.

Gibraltar strait has the following characteristics making the design challenging.

The strait is very deep and wide in the middle. The suspension bridge design must address a much wider span than any existing bridges.

Wind is strong and get stronger as the bridge gets higher on top of the strait. A tall bridge design therefore has to withstand the wind much better.

The strait is the gateway from Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is paramount to provide a safe and unblocked pathway.

Jason’s design is illustrated below. His idea is mainly a hybrid of two suspension bridges and a floating bridge. Please forgive me for such a coarse and amateur drawing. You can click on the image to see the details.

The suspension bridges on the two sides of the strait can be built with traditional suspension bridge technology. The number of pillars depending on the width of the shallow area. They provide safe and unblocked pathways on each side.

The floating bridge in the middle can be built with existing floating bridge technology and therefore avoid the difficulty in dealing with wide and deep sea floor.

The suspension bridges and the floating bridges are joined by two almost submerged pillars

The floating bridge can be built with modularized, pre-built components chained together. The components are shaped like ships to provide good aero/hydro dynamics and also are anchored to the ocean floor just as ships are to provide stability.

Before I wrote this article, I read that Spain and Morocco governments have already started a project to build a tunnel under the strait. It was actually started after Jason formed his idea. I do not know how much progression it has made, but still I would like to publish my son’s idea just to memorize him. If his idea could be considered, it would be a great joy for him, even from heaven.

Also, I would like to mention that my son was a great fan of saving energy and making the earth greener. He thought of so much to make the planet better but he never thought he did not have time to enjoy it.

I love you forever and ever, Jason.

Memorial for my angel

Jason’s Design of Gibraltar Bridge