The world’s largest bridge stretches more than 26 miles long and is five miles longer than the Dover-Calais crossing and almost three miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. This bridge is also 174 times longer than London’s Tower Bridge over the Thames River.
At the cost of $8.5 billion, the bridge is specifically designed to withstand an earthquake of 8 magnitude and tropical typhoons with winds up to 125mph. Initiated back in 2006 with two separate groups of workers building the different ends of the structure, the six-lane expressway stretches from Qingdao to Huangdao and the Pearl River Delta city of Zhuhai.
Slated to carry over 30,000 cars per day when it opens to commuters at the end of 2011, it is expected that this bridge will dramatically reduce travel distance along the route between Qingdao and Huangdao by 30km (more than 18 miles) and shave about 20 minutes off the total travel time.
Although everything went well when construction was completed in December, there were still concerns.
“The computer models and calculations are all very well but you can’t really relax until the two sides are bolted together. Even a few centimeters off would have been a disaster,” commented one engineer.
Fame however, is fleeting, and this bridge will only remain the world’s largest for a few years when it is expected that its length will be bested by still another Chinese bridge that will link southern Guangdong province with Hong Kong and Macau. This one is set for completion in 2016 and will span nearly 50 km (30 miles).
Wow! And I get freaked out by the 640m bridge to Philip Island… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Island_(Victoria)
all that’s needed now is a film made by the Americans in which their engineers build it….
That’s pretty awesome. All I need now is a supercar and to keep it closed for an hour or two.
There’s not enough money in the world to get me on that..
If you are going to go to these lengths, would it not have been possible to create a string of artificial islands? Some of the channels between them, or ducts beneath them, might then have been equipped with turbines. To harvest the increased water flow, resulting from the width restriction imposed.