In what could be enviably described as the world’s greatest technical excellence, China on Thursday unveiled its 36-km long sea bridge built between Shanghai and Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province.
{besps}stories/slideshow/china{/besps}Built in the Yangtze River Delta over a period of four years with a cost of 11.8 billion Yuan ($1.69 billion) to last for 100 years, the marvelous Y shaped bridge will cut the length of the road distance from Shanghai to Ningbo, a busy port, by 120 km.
The bridge will also connect the Northern port city of Qingdao with an airport built on a nearby island and the industrial suburb of Huangdao.
The six-lane, 110ft-wide sea highway stands on 5200 majestic pillars and was entirely designed by the Chinese engineers working at the Shandong Gausu Group. “At least 10,000 workers toiled in two teams around the clock to build the bridge, working from opposite sides of the bay and linking the two ends together in the middle,” said Mr Shao, the chief engineer of the project.
A staggering 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete were used in the construction of the bridge, he said, adding that the material would be enough to build 65 Eiffel Towers.
What is more, the bridge can withstand earthquakes, typhoons or the impact of a 300,000 ton ship.
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, the current Guinness World Record-holder is lesser in distance by at least two-and-a-half miles to the Chinese marvel which now holds the Guinness record.
