China builds world's longest bridge

26.4 long miles of Qingdao Haiwan Bridge would easily cross the English Channel and is nearly three miles longer than the previous record holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

The great structure connecting the center of the booming port city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province with the suburb Huangdao, spanning the vast blue waters of the Jiaozhou Bay.

Built in just four years at a price of £ 5500000000, shows the sheer scale of the bridge of the progress made by Chinese engineers in recent years made.


No longer dependent on Western know-how for such ambitious projects is the six-lane road bridge of more than 5,200 columns it was developed by the Shandong Gausu Group. When it opened to traffic later this year, the bridge is expected to carry more than 30,000 cars per day and the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburbs of Huangdao of between 20 and 30 minutes cut.

At least 10,000 workers in two teams around the clock on the bridge which was built from opposite ends and connected to build the center in recent days, toiled.

A staggering 450,000 tons of steel was used in its construction - enough for nearly 65 Eiffel Towers - and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete, the equivalent of filling 3800 Olympic swimming pools.

Chinese officials said that the bridge will be strong enough to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons and the effects of a 300,000 tons ship.

With its economy growing by 16 percent per year, Qingdao is one of the fastest growing and most prosperous cities in China. The main port of the Chinese Navy and home of Tsingtao Beer, China's most famous brew, host of the sailing competitions of the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.

Briefly occupied by Germany 1898-1914 Qingdao has mix of early 20th- Century European-style mansions and churches, beaches and saw reputation for fine seafood at one of China's most popular domestic tourist destinations in recent years. It is also considered a highly desirable place to live. A 2009 Chinese survey named as the most liveable city Qingdao China.

Qingdao residents have celebrated the bridge as a long overdue miracle.

"I'm so glad the bridge is finished. The old road between Qingdao and Huangdao am is so crowded, and now my trip will be much easier. We are a tourist city with beautiful beaches, it is important to good transport links" said a commuter on sina.com, China's largest Internet portal.

But people from other parts of China have denounced the huge cost of the bridge, especially since it only cuts the distance between Qingdao and Huangdao of 19 miles.

"To spend billions to save 20 minutes is a waste of taxpayers' money. It's just a show to make the project look like the governor of Shandong well," complained one commentator from the province of Jilin in northeast China.

China is already home to seven of the world's 10 longest bridges, including the world's longest, 102 miles of Danyang-Kunshan railway bridge that runs over land and water in the vicinity of Shanghai.

And with Beijing billion pumped into promoting China's infrastructure, the bridge is not the world's longest sea bridge Qingdao Haiwan be for very long.

In December 2009, work began on a bridge 31 miles, Zhuhai in southern Guangdong province, China's manufacturing heartland, is related to the financial center of Hong Kong. The £ 6500000000 project is expected to be completed in 2016.