Jiaozhou Bay Bridge – Qingdao – World’s Longest Bridge Opened by China

China Opens Qingdao Haiwan Bridge – The World’s Longest Bridge

Yesterday China opened the  world’s longest bridge over sea water. The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge with a total length of 42.4 kilometres (26.4 miles) is almost three miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the American state of Louisiana.

As shown in map above, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge connects the booming northern port city of Qingdao with an airport built on a nearby island and the industrial suburb of Huangdao.

The bridge is expected to carry more than 30 thousand cars a day and will cut the commute between Qingdao and Huangdao by between 20 and 30 minutes.

The Bridge has been built in just four years at a cost of 55.5 billion pounds. This six-lane road bridge is supported by more than 5,200 columns, and has a total of 450,000 tons of steel was used in the construction – enough for almost 65 Eiffel Towers – and 2.3 million cubic metres of concrete.

Chinese officials said that the bridge would be strong enough to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons or the impact of a 300,000-ton ship.

Please find below Photo of Qingdao Haiwan Bridge – The World’s Longest Bridge :

But, this Bridge will remain as World’s Longest Bridge only till 2016, as by 2016 another Chinese Bridge named Trestle bridge, which will linking Hong Kong with Macau and Guangdong province and will be about 50 km long.