Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. Officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, it shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The geography of Papua New Guinea describes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the islands of New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville, and smaller nearby islands. Together these make up the nation of Papua New Guinea in tropical Oceania, located in the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.
The economy of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is largely underdeveloped with the vast majority of the population living below the poverty line. However, according to the Asian Development Bank its GDP is expected to grow 3.4% in 2022 and 4.6% in 2023. It is dominated by the agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector and the minerals and energy extraction sector. The agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector accounts for most of the labour force of PNG while the minerals and energy extraction sector, including gold, copper, oil and natural gas is responsible for most of the export earnings.
The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3,030 feet (924 m) long over the New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. With an arch 1,700 feet (518 m) long, the New River Gorge Bridge was the world's longest single-span arch bridge for 26 years; it is now the fifth longest; the longest outside of China. Part of U.S. Route 19, its construction marked the completion of Corridor L of the Appalachian Development Highway System. An average of 16,200 motor vehicles cross the bridge each day.
The Bulldog Track, also known as the Bulldog-Wau road and Reinhold's Highway, in the year 2004 is a foot track crossing the western end of the Owen Stanley Range of Central Papua New Guinea. The track begins near a small settlement on the upper reaches of the Lakekamu River on the south side of the ranges. After penetrating dense equatorial rain forests it winds up around jungle clad ridges for some sixty kilometres to over 9,800 feet on the Central Ranges before dropping down to the township of Wau in the Bulolo Valley.
The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado within Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, a 360-acre (150 ha) amusement park located along the edge of the Royal Gorge around both ends of the bridge. The bridge crosses the gorge 955 feet (291 m) above the Arkansas River and held the record of highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Duge Bridge in China. The Royal Gorge Bridge maintained the title of the world's highest suspension bridge until the Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge was completed in 2003, also in China. The bridge remains the highest bridge in the United States and was among the ten highest bridges in the world until 2012.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, Indonesian Papua, is the western, Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. Since the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
The Kikori River is a major river in southern Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea. The river has a total length of 445 km (277 mi) and flows southeast into the Gulf of Papua, with its delta at the head of the gulf. The settlement of Kikori lies on the delta.
A stressed ribbon bridge is a tension structure similar in many ways to a simple suspension bridge. The suspension cables are embedded in the deck, which follows a catenary arc between supports. As with a simple suspension bridge, the weight is taken by the suspension cables, but unlike the simple span, the deck or ribbon is stressed in compression, which adds to the stiffness of the structure. The supports in turn sustain upward-thrusting arcs that allow the grade to be changed between spans. Such bridges are typically made from concrete reinforced by steel tensioning cables. Where such bridges carry vehicle traffic, a certain degree of stiffness is required to prevent excessive flexure of the structure, obtained by stressing the concrete in compression.
The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's tallest peak, Puncak Jaya, Indonesia, 16,024 ft (4,884 m), the highest mountain in Oceania. The range is home to many intermountain river valleys, many of which support thriving agricultural communities. The highlands run generally east-west the length of the island, which is divided politically between Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east.
A pipeline bridge is a bridge for running a pipeline over a river or another obstacle. Pipeline bridges for liquids and gases are, as a rule, only built when it is not possible to run the pipeline on a conventional bridge or under the river. However, as it is more common to run pipelines for centralized heating systems overhead, for this application even small pipeline bridges are common.
The Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge or Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge is a 366-metre-high suspension bridge on the Guanxing Highway near Xingbei Town (Xinbeizhen), Zhenfeng County, Guizhou Province, China. The bridge has a span length of 388 metres. When it opened in 2003, it was the world's highest bridge, and it held that title until the opening of the Hegigio Gorge Pipeline Bridge in 2005.
The Wushan Yangtze River Bridge is an arch bridge, which carries S301 Provincial Road across the Yangtze River near Wushan, Chongqing, China. Completed in 2005, the 130 metres (430 ft) high arch spans 460 metres (1,510 ft) ranking it in the top ten longest arch bridges in the world. The bridge is also among the highest in the world however, the reservoir created by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has increased the height of the water below the bridge, and the full 180 metres (590 ft) clearance is no longer visible. The bridge was officially opened to the public on January 8, 2005.
The Daning River Bridge is an arch bridge near Wushan, Chongqing, China. The bridge opened in 2009 carrying traffic on the G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway across the Daning River. The bridge spans 400 metres (1,300 ft) making it one of the longest arch bridges in the world. The bridge is also among the highest in the world however the reservoir created by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has increased the height of the river below the bridge and the full 219 metres (719 ft) clearance is no longer visible.
The Badong Yangtze River Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River in Badong County, Hubei, China. Completed in July 2004, it carries 4 lanes of traffic on China National Highway 209. The bridge's highest tower measures 218 metres (715 ft) and the bridge has a main span of 388 metres (1,273 ft). The bridge was constructed 147 metres (482 ft) above the original river however the reservoir created by the Three Gorges Dam has increased the height of the water below the bridge and the clearance is vastly reduced.
The Lancang River Railway Bridge is an arch bridge under construction od Dali-Ruili Railway near city of Baoshan in western Yunnan Province, China. Once completed, the bridge will be one of the highest in world, sitting 271 m (889 ft) above the Lancang River. The bridge's main span will be 342 m (1,122 ft) making it also one of the longest arch bridges ever built. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2019.
