Culture / Design

Morocco Unveils Mohammed VI Bridge, Africa’s Longest

Morocco now has the longest cable-stayed bridge in the African continent.

Jul 25, 2016 | By Vimi Haridasan

Lighting up the Moroccan skyline is the Mohammed VI bridge. With its multi-colored, variable LED lights, it is hard to miss Africa’s longest cable-stayed bridge. Named after King Mohammed VI of Morocco, it was inaugurated earlier this month.

The bridge spans 950 meters in length and is six lanes and includes two 200-meter tall towers while being held together by 160 cables. The connector between the Moroccan capital, Rabat and the city of Salé was constructed by China railway Major Bridge Engineering Group and took five years to be completed.Mohammed-VI-Bridge-Morocco-close-up

The colorful display is achieved with the help of Philips Lighting, who has dressed the bridge in LED lights to commemorate the inauguration. Using Philips Color Kinetics technology, operators can choose between 16 million colors for eye-catching light shows along the bridge. The lights that run along all the cables and pillars are expected to be “up to 75% more energy efficient that conventional lighting systems.”

This is hardly the first bridge to be lit up thanks to Philips’ LED lighting system. From the London Bridge, to the Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey and even the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston, the light manufacturer has been lighting up bridges the world over.Mohammed-VI-Bridge-Morocco-Philips-Lighting

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While the Mohammed VI bridge holds the title as the longest bridge in the continent, it is only the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The longest cable-stayed bridges in the world (not counting pipeline bridges) are currently the Russky Bridge in Russia (1,104 meters) and the Sutong Bridge in China (1,088 meters).


 
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