Construction of the 50-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, expected to be the world’s longest sea bridge, kicked off in Zhuhai of Guangdong province yesterday It is expected to be completed by 2016.
* The Y-shaped bridge is being built at a cost of more than 72 billion yuan ($10.54 billion).
* it would take about half an hour to travel from Zhuhai or Macao on the west bank of the Pearl River to Hong Kong on the east bank, compared with the current three hours
The project is financed by the central government together with the regional governments of Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong. The main 35 km of the bridge include a 29.6-km oversea pass and a 6-km harbor tunnel under the South China Sea. Two artificial islands will connect the tunnel and bridge on either side.
Reclamation projects to create the artificial islands in Macao and Zhuhai ports are part of the first phase of construction.
Each city will have a port, which its own government will build.
The six-lane bridge is expected to remain in good shape for up to 120 years.
California Bay Bridge Retrofit
The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is currently scheduled to open to traffic in 2013.
After more than a decade of study, construction began on a replacement for the cantilever portion of the bridge on January 29, 2002, with completion originally slated for 2007. The new eastern “signature” span was to feature a pair of side-by-side, five-lane concrete viaducts linking to a single-towered, self-supporting suspension span between the viaducts.
Bay Bridge
Total length West: 10,304 feet (3,141 m)
East: 10,176 feet (3,102 m)
Total: 4.46 miles (7.18 km)
excluding approaches
The original bridge was built in just over 3 years.
Cost to build original bridge: $77 million in 1936 (including Transbay Transit Terminal)
If China’s bridge comes in at or near budget: for about twice as much money China will have about 20 times as much bridge and it could be built in half the time.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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