A multi-billion pound bridge in China holds multiple world records for its incredible features.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) cost an staggering £14.8 billion to build. It stretches 34 miles across the sea and features an undersea tunnel and four artificial islands.
HZMB, which has been branded a ‘marvel of modern engineering’, is made up of a series of three cable-stayed bridges and has been designed to last for around 120 years. It crosses the Lingdingyang and Jiuzhou channels in the Pearl River Estuary, connecting Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in China.
Prior to the HZMB being build, it would take travellers around four hours to travel between Hong Kong and Zhuhai. However, thanks to this infrastructure, users can now cover the distance in just 30 minutes, reports the Express.
As it stands, the HZMB holds the record for the longest sea crossing and the longest open-sea fixed link in the world.
The structure’s viaduct section consists of three cable-stayed bridges: Qingzhou Channel Bridge, Jianghai Channel Bridge and Jiuzhou Channel Bridge. The former has the longest span, at about 1,502ft long.
Jianghai Channel Bridge’s steel tower weighs about 3,100 tonnes, with the bridge’s decks totalling an incredible 420,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to the weight of 60 Eiffel Towers.
The tunnel, meanwhile, lies in a stretch of open sea with a maximum depth of 147ft, with the size of a standard tunnel segment at around 590ft long by 124ft wide and 36ft high. Each piece – precast and brought via a tug boat – weights 80,000 tonnes.
The tunnel was incorporated into the design to allow ships to pass through and runs between two artificial islands, the Blue Dolphin Island on the west and the White Dolphin Island on the east.
Construction began in December 2009 on the Chinese side and in Hong Kong two years later. Originally set to open to traffic in late 2016, the HZMB was finally completed in February 2018 and was launched to the public the following October after an inauguration ceremony attended by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
However, a special permit must be obtained just to cross it and all vehicles have to pay a toll which, combined with high private vehicle ownership fees, means one of the most encouraged ways to cross it is by private shuttle buses.
To make the journey more complicated, drivers must use crossing viaducts to switch lanes, as people drive on the left in Hong Kong and Macau but on the right in Zhuhai and mainland China.