Major milestone in longest man-made sea crossing mega-project

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge mega-project sees a new milestone on July 7, 2017, with the breakthrough of the world's longest underwater tunnel. Once open to traffic, later this year, travel times between Hong Kong and Zhuhai will be cut from 3 and a half hours to just 30 minutes.

The plan was mooted by Hong Kong businessman Hu Yingxiang as early as 1983, but funding for the massive civil engineering project wasn't approved until December 2009.

Photo shows the interior of undersea tunnel. [Photo: VCG]

With a total length of 55 kilometers, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will become on completion the world's longest over water bridge. As one of China's new landmarks, it's become known as the "Mount Everest" of the bridge world, and even one of the "Seven Wonders" of the modern world.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and its undersea tunnel have also set many other world records, including the world's longest steel bridge, the longest underwater tunnel, the largest immersed tunnel, the deepest tunnel, etc.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be open to traffic soon. [Photo: VCG]

"Once the bridge opens, it'll take less than an hour to reach any of the cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, greatly improving commuting times and promote a more efficient circulation and more intensive allocation of economic elements," says Professor Zheng Tianxiang from Sun Yat-sen University, who has been an active participant in the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project.

Zheng also points out that Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will enhance the economic competitiveness of the Pearl River Delta and boost the relationship between cities on the river's west bank. "The completion of the bridge will enable those cities to take the lead in forming a unified market with Hong Kong and Macau so that the Greater Bay Area will become the world's most dynamic economic region in the future," Zheng explains.