World's largest over Sea Bridge - China

JIAOZHOU BAY BRIDGE - CHINA

Engineering Wonder

Introductory Facts & Features
Time is passing rapidly and the world is having wonders. Without any doubt we can say that this era is the era of engineering. From the years of recent past we have seen a number of engineering wonders. Engineers have created masterpieces which are just breathtaking. The same happened in China and Chinese engineers set a world record by making a bridge over the sea. On 30th June 2011 China opened the world's largest over Sea Bridge which is called Jiaozhou Bay Bridge. Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is a roadway bridge in eastern China's Shandong province. This total bridge is "T" shaped. There are three entry and exit points on the bridge. The total length of the bridge is 42.58 km which is 26.4 miles. This bridge links the Qingdao which is the eastern port city to Huangdo Island. The bridge has reduced the distance between Qingdao and Huangdao by 30 km. The construction of this bridge is the part of Jiaozhou Bay Connection Project which includes the construction of Qing-Huang Tunnel as well is an under sea tunnel.


These two projects were opened at the same date for the traffic. There are 5000 pillars which are keeping the bridge high over the sea water. The construction of the bridge took more than four years to complete. This engineering wonder is the result of the efforts of 10,000 workers round the clock to make it possible. They worked in the form of two teams. It is expected that the bridge will carry 30,000 cars per day. It's really a big road of traffic and shows that how many people will be facilitation from the bridge. Previously the longest over bridge is in Louisiana which is named Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.


History
This amazing bridge was designed by Shandong Gaosu Group. Its design is just marvelous that it will not be effected with the sever earthquakes, typhoons and collisions with the ships. This is a big project in real a big structure which you can imagine from the fact that about 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete were used in the construction of the bridge. The width of the bridge is about 35 meters (115 ft) and carries six lanes and two shoulders. The cost of the project is more than 10 billion Yuan which is equal to $1.5 billion but according to some other reports the cost is more that $2.3 billion.


Safety Concerns
According to some media reports, Chinese authorities were in hurry to open the bridge regardless some safety issues like incomplete crash barriers, loose nuts on guard rails and missing lights. But chief of the project claims that there is nothing wrong with the safety of the bridge and the problems highlighted are just of minor nature.