Chinese bridges start a new construction era

Almost 10 thousand new bridges are built every year across China, linking previously isolated cities and villages.

Apart from significantly improving the lives of local people, the mega-bridges have become a symbol of China's rapid economic and technical development.

A view of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge (HZMB) under construction, November 11, 2016 [Photo: IC]

The Hong Kong – Zhuhai - Macao Bridge is little short of an engineering miracle. Linking Zhuhai in Guangdong Province to Hong Kong and Macao, the bridge is due to open by the end of the year.

Once completed, the bridge will have a total length of about 55 km, including a 6.7 km underwater tunnel, making it the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

Travel times from Hong Kong to Macao and Zhuhai will be cut from some three hours to just 30 minutes.

This multi-billion-dollar project is widely expected to bring the areas closer together economically.

The aerial photo taken on June 29, 2016 shows the construction site of the main bridge parts of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. Two main bridge sections of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge joined together on Wednesday. [Photo: Xinhua]

Lin Qibin works at a law office in Hong Kong and often travels between the mainland and Hong Kong for business. He is looking forward to the opening of the bridge.

"At the moment, I need to schedule my itinerary in advance to head for mainland cities, and still it takes hours for one trip. Once the bridge opens, it will transform this region into a multi-city cluster, so it not only shortens the travel time but will bring much more convenience and opportunities to our businesses," Lin says.

Also a cross-sea bridge, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge is yet another example of a project that facilitates regional development and the lives of residents.

Aerial shot of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge [File photo: baidu.com]

The 35-kilometer-long bridge was completed in 2007 and provides a highway directly connecting Ningbo with Jiaxing across the bay in East China's Zhejiang Province.

Qian Weixiang is a tea planter in a village of Zhejiang's Hangzhou. He says: "Originally the route between Ningbo's Cixi and Jiaxing's Haiyan via Hangzhou was 150 kilometers long. Now the cross-sea bridge skips Hangzhou and cuts 80 kilometers. It saves about one hour twenty minutes' travel time plus nearly 50 yuan in costs."

Soaring 565 meters above a river, equivalent to a 200-storey building, the Beipanjiang Bridge in Guizhou opened to traffic last December, making it the world's highest bridge.

Aerial view of the Beipanjiang Bridge, the world's highest bridge, over the Nizhu River Canyon on the boundary of southwest China's Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, 28 December 2016. [Photo: IC]

As a part of a highway linking east China with the southwest, the bridge cuts travel time from Liupanshui in Guizhou to Xuanwei in Yunnan from around five hours to fewer than two.

Over the years, bridge records have been frequently broken by Chinese constractors.

To date, China is home to at least 20 bridges with a single span of more than one thousand meters in length. Seven bridges in China have made it into the top ten list of longest cable-stayed bridges, and eight bridges are in the top ten highest list.

Deng Wenshi with the Chinese Academy of Engineering says Chinese bridges have already set a global standard.

"We are now able to devise projects to a world leading standard. Technically China is capable of building any type of bridge now," Deng notes. " 30 years ago it was impossible to say that, but now it is the truth."