China has opened the world's longest sea bridge to the general public today. The Qingdao Bridge is 26.3 miles or 42.4 kilometer long and connects Eastern coastal city of Qingdao with the suburb of Huangdao in Jiaozhou Bay. By unveiling this bridge, China has broken the previous record of the longest bridge which was held by Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Louisiana in the USA, by 4 KMs.
This bridge is said to be standing on more than 5,200 pillars. It took four years to build and the project cost over 10 billion yuan (around 1.55 billion dollars).
This bridge is expected to carry more than 30,000 cars a day, and will cut the commuting time between Qingdao and Huangdao by around 30 minutes.
This cable-stayed bridge has been designed by the Shandong Gausu Group. Its life is expected 100 years.
The construction of bridge started in May 2007, and it took four years to complete. It is said to be one of the bridges built with the highest construction standards with most sci-tech innovations in the world's bridge-building history. “The project has applied a number of hi-tech elements to the bridge, with the total input in scientific research at over 100 million yuan, all into developing some techniques the country did not have before," said Li Qiying, a researcher, Transportation Infrastructure Engineering Quality Inspection Station of Shandong Transportation Department.
