From the Ministry of Labor’s campaign of “selection of excellent public works and personnel to promote occupational safety and health “in 2014, the “Cross Luerhmen Creek Bridge Engineering Project (bicycle bridge project) of Tainan Public Works Bureau stood out in the national competition and won the first prize of Golden Safety Award. This is also the first time for the Bureau to win the honor, witnessing the working spirits of the Director, Chung Rung Wu, “ positive in innovation and fearless of hardship”, to guide the team members.
The Ministry of Labor conducts “the selection of excellent public works and personnel to promote occupational safety and health” every year in order to encourage the implement of safety and health management in public works, enhance construction safety culture, establish a well-equipped safety standard operating procedures, and prevent occupational hazards. The selection of engineering category is divided into six sections according to the property of the hosted authorities and the scale of the project. The new “Cross Luerhmen Creek Bridge Engineering Project (bicycle bridge project)” competed in the section of which the contract amount is less than NT $ 200 million and won the first place after the assessment.
The construction of the Cross Luerhmen Creek Bridge Engineering Project is a part of the plan to build a whole network of bike paths in Tainan City, integrating both the local needs and regional characteristics and open to the traffic of motorcycles. It adopted the design of single-tower and symmetrical back bridge, 88 meters long, with the bridge deck gradually widening from 7 meters to 15 to render a sailing imagery. The tower column is about 11 meters in height and it is three-span steel cable-stayed on both sides. A carved stone totem, “Fish leaping over Luerhmen”, of about 3 meters high was placed on the tower top; considering, in advance, the needs of the recreational sightseeing boats in the future development at the upstream of Luerhmen Creek, the clearance below the bridge is 3 meters (the distance from the end of beam to the average tidal level). The work was reported to start on July 8, 2013, and it has completed 83 percent so far, which is expected to be completed by the end of October, 2014. The total project funds account for NT$ 74.29 million.
The bicycle bridge is the most important scenic path linking the south and north banks of Luerhmen Creek in Tainan metropolitan area, which is also an important indicator to develop tourism and leisure activities. The City government promotes the plan of “Tainan Inner Sea and the cultural Silk Road” for the future development of Tainan coastal tourism and recreation as well as the fishing yacht industry. Along with Taijiang National Park, Luerhmen Tianhou Temple, Tainan Technology Industrial Park, the landscapes of religions and science & technology, and green corridor planning, the project integrated as a part of recreational travel industry will drive the tourism development in the Coastal Recreational Area of Annan District.
The national Golden Safety Award focuses on the team effectiveness regarding occupational safety carried out collectively by three parties of the hosted authorities of the project, the manufacturing supervision unit, and the construction firms. The honor of Tainan Public Works Bureau’s winning the first prize in the national assessment should be attributed to the joint efforts from the overall construction teams. The City government expects other construction enterprises to learn from the exemplary performance and urge themselves to enhance the importance of occupational safety in Tainan’s construction businesses.