Friday, July 1, 2011

Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, China


 

Qingdao Haiwan Bridge

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge links the city of Qingdao in Eastern China's Shandong province with the suburban Huangdao District across the waters of the northern part of Jiaozhou Bay. It is 42.5 kilometres (26.4 mi) long and cuts the distance between Qingdao and Huangdao by 31 kilometres (19 mi). Opened in 2011, the structure is the world's longest bridge over water (there are longer bridges over land).

The bridge took four years to build, and employed at least 10,000 people. 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete were used in the construction of the bridge, which was designed by the Shandong Gausu Group. It is designed to be able to withstand severe earthquakes, typhoons, and collisions with ships.


Carries Motor vehicles
Crosses Jiaozhou Bay
Locale between Qingdao, Shandong Province and Huangdao District,  People's Republic of China
Designer Shandong Gausu Group
Design Cable-stayed bridge
Material Prestressed concrete
Total length 41.58 kilometres (25.84 mi)
Construction end early 2011
Opened 30 June 2011
Daily traffic expected 30,000
Coordinates 36°10′12″N 120°17′54″E / 36.169913°N 120.298305°E




China has opened the world's longest sea bridge to general traffic.

The bridge spans 42.4km (26.3 miles) to connect the eastern coastal city of Qingdao to the suburb of Huangdao, in Jiaozhou Bay.

State media say the bridge passed construction tests on Monday and it opened to traffic on Thursday, along with an undersea tunnel.

The bridge would easily cross the English Channel, which is 32km wide at its narrowest point.

It is 4km longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the US state of Louisiana.

It took four years to build and state media say the project cost over 10bn yuan ($1.55bn; £970m). The bridge is supported on more than 5,200 pillars.

It is expected to carry more than 30,000 cars a day, and will reportedly cut the commuting time between Qingdao and Huangdao by up to 30 minutes.

However, this cross-sea bridge may not hold on to the record as the world's longest.

In 2009, China began work on a bridge linking southern Guangdong province, China's main manufacturing hub, with Hong Kong and Macau.

However, only 35km of that structure - set to open in 2016 - will actually be above water.



Photo taken on June 29, 2011 shows an aerial view of Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. The bridge, world's longest cross-sea bridge with length of 36.48 kilometers, connects the urban district of Qingdao City to its Huangdao district. The bridge will shorten the route between the two centers by 30 km, cutting travel time down from over 40 minutes to around 20 minutes, said Han Shouxin, deputy director of the city's traffic management committee. Previously, the longest cross-sea bridge in the world was the 36-km-long Hangzhou Bay Cross-sea Bridge that connects the cities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province. The Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge comes on stream on Thursday morning. (Xinhua)

QINGDAO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The world's longest cross-sea bridge, spanning 36.48 kilometers across the mouth of the Jiaozhou Bay in eastern Shandong Province, opened to traffic on Thursday, four years after construction started.

The bridge, connecting urban Qingdao with the city's less-developed district of Huangdao, cost about 14.8 billion yuan (2.3 billion U.S. dollars). Authorities expect the project to boost the development of an industrial zone in Huangdao and to facilitate the rise of foreign trade by increasing the port's handling capacity.

Business people have been complaining of the inconvenience of the current, less-efficient sea transport, whose operation is at the mercy of the weather.

Han Shouxin, deputy director of Qingdao's traffic management committee, said the bridge will shorten the route between Huangdao and urban Qingdao by 30 km, cutting the travel time down from over 40 minutes to around 20 minutes.

Before the project's completion, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge that spans across the bay of Hangzhou, in eastern Zhejiang Province, was considered the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

On Thursday, Qingdao officials also announced the completion of a 9.47-kilometer-long undersea tunnel that runs parallel to the bridge.

The construction of the tunnel, whose lowest part is located 81 meters below sea level, cost another 7 billion yuan. The construction started in August 2007.

Engineers overcame huge difficulties in building the tunnel amid a complicated geological environment, said Zhou Fengjun, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, adding that the project can now serve as a textbook for the country's tunnel-construction project

 


Photos: Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay bridge under construction

http://www.china-huazhou.com/images/content/2009/20091103114421272072.jpg3

A staggering 450,000 tons of steel was used in its construction – enough for almost 65 Eiffel Towers – and 2.3 million cubic metres of concrete, equivalent to filling 3,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Chinese officials said that the bridge will be strong enough to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons or the impact of a 300,000 tonne vessel.

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