China to launch World’s Longest Sea Bridge
The Republic of Chinese government is about to open the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese mainland. The project is estimated to cost around 100 billion yuan ($15.1 billion), that houses an underwater tunnel, and a curved snaking road. It is said that the structure has used about 420,000 tonnes of steel that could build nearly 60 Eiffel Towers.
The 55- kilometre mega-engineering marvel is expected to last around 120 years, and took 9 years to construct. And hence engineers predict that the bridge aims to cut travel time by around 60 per cent.
“The bridge’s major highlight is the underwater tunnel for about 6.7 km, which was risky as well as challenging to construct,” said Gao Xinglin, bridge’s project planning manager.
“There were many nights where I couldn’t fall asleep, because there were too many difficulties during the construction,” added Gao. “Linking the 80,000-tonne pipes under the sea with watertight technology was the most challenging,” he added.