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Watch this crazy time-lapse of a Chinese bridge being built in just 43 hours

chinese bridge
CCTV America/YouTube

China's Sanyuan Bridge recovers quickly.

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Thirty years after its initial construction in 1984, the bridge's supports finally started to weaken this year — enough that the Beijing government ordered it be rebuilt.

A recently released time-lapse video from CCTV shows that lightning-fast construction, which took a mere 43 hours.

(Originally, the plan was to take only 24 hours, but the workers discovered the damage was more severe than previously thought.)

The first 24 hours saw the demolition of the bridge, while the remaining 19 saw the new-and-improved structure rise in its place. 

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Motorists were back on the bridge in under two days.

It can often take months or even years to dismantle an existing structure and rebuild. But the Sanyuan Bridge had the advantage of being a guinea pig for Beijing's new "integrated replacement method."

1,300-ton slab of pre-built roadway

After a quick paving, the road was ready to go.

Check out the entire 43 hours, condensed into just over a minute, below:

The method involves installing an entire bridge in one piece, rather than building it up using individual parts. Two giant mechanical pulleys helped slide the  into place. 
China
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