China continues to amaze the world with its massive constructions. A bridge across the sea connects Hong Kong and Macau and uses enough steel to build 60 Eiffel Towers.
Over the next decade, China is planning to encourage some 250 million of its people to live in the country’s growing megacities. To prepare for this transition, the country has invested tens of billions of dollars to upgrade its transport infrastructure system, including major projects such as a bridge across the sea connecting and shorten the travel distance between Macau and Hong Kong.
It is known that in this April, China will start opening its bridge across the sea with a record length of up to 55km, connecting Hong Kong and Macau. This bridge is expected to reduce the travel time between these two special economic zones in half compared to before.
Let’s admire the massiveness of the bridge project across the sea of Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau through the images below:
The image of the tunnel under the bridge system of Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau was recorded on March 28.
The bridge project across the sea of Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau cuts the travel time from Hong Kong to Macau in half.
People can now travel from Hong Kong to Macau in about an hour.
Here is a diagram, the location of the bridge over the sea.
The bridge will have 6 lanes and 4 tunnel lanes, including 1 undersea tunnel.
To serve the bridge construction, China also has to build small artificial islands on this route across the sea.
This bridge is considered a new wonder of the world construction industry. It is made from 420,000 tons of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers.
The steep roads stretch across the sea.
About 40,000 vehicles are expected to cross the bridge daily, including a rapid bus route that runs across the bridge every 10 minutes.
The bridge will not allow pedestrians, rudimentary vehicles, bicycles and motorbikes to use. All lanes will be for cars only.
As expected, this bridge will be inaugurated and can serve people for about… 120 years.
The total cost to build this bridge has not been disclosed, but according to a local government report, it could be up to 15 billion USD.
The project has caused quite a bit of controversy due to its high cost, late construction progress as well as concerns about the safety of workers involved in the construction. According to records, up to 2 accidents causing loss of life have occurred along with 19 violations of the quality of concrete.
The construction period of the bridge took more than 7 years. This is a picture taken in 2012 when China built an artificial island to support this bridge near the island of Dai Ershan in Hong Kong.