And you thought the CBBT was long.
HONG KONG — China officially opened the world’s longest sea bridge on Tuesday after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and local officials inaugurated the 34-mile structure, which crosses the Pearl River Delta to link Hong Kong with Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.
The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge is a bridge–tunnel system, which consists of a series of three cable-stayed bridges and one undersea tunnel, as well as 2 artificial islands. It spans the Lingdingyang channel, which connects Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai, three major cities on the Pearl River Delta.-Wikipedia
Including its access roads, the bridge spans 55km (34 miles) and connects Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.
The bridge cost about $20bn (£15.3bn) and should have opened in 2016.
Designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, it was built using 400,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers.
About 30km of its total length crosses the sea of the Pearl River delta. To allow ships through, a 6.7km section in the middle dips into an undersea tunnel that runs between two artificial islands.
The remaining sections are link roads, viaducts and land tunnels connecting Zhuhai and Hong Kong to the main bridge.
It is part of China’s plan to create a Greater Bay Area, including Hong Kong, Macau and nine other cities in southern China.
The area is currently home to 68 million people.
In the past, travelling between Zhuhai and Hong Kong would take up to four hours – the new bridge cuts this down to 30 minutes.
Special cameras will be on the look-out for drivers on the bridge who show signs of getting sleepy, among other checks – yawn three times and the authorities will be alerted.
To help counter potential terror attacks, there will also be “48 high-definition surveillance cameras” mounted at intervals along the bridge as well as anti-terror police patrols, the South China Morning Post reports.
Drivers will have to change which side of the road they are on at the crossing. People drive on the left in Hong Kong and Macau but the bridge is Chinese territory and special merger channels have been built to cope with this.
Leave a Reply