China opens world's longest sea bridge near Shanghai

Reuters ^ | 5/1/2008

[charles m]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will open the world's longest cross-sea bridge on Thursday, linking the financial and commercial hub of Shanghai with the booming port and industrial city of Ningbo, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The 11.8 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) cable-stayed structure, spanning Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang Province south of Shanghai, will be open to traffic on a trial basis at midnight following an inauguration ceremony on Thursday afternoon, Xinhua said.

The 36 km span will shorten travel time between Shanghai and Ningbo, two key port cities in China's prosperous Yangtze River Delta, to two-and-a-half hours from four.

China, the world's fourth-largest economy, is spending heavily on infrastructure to maintain its double-digit rates of economic growth. It began construction on the bridge in November 2003.

[charles m]

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Official website

Pretty impressive.

[proudpapa]

Nice Target.

[goldstategop]

That's a long bay bridge. It makes the Golden Gate linking San Francisco's peninsulas look ordinary by comparison.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[wastedyears]

When will it collapse?

[P.O.E.]

Hasn’t Al Gore harangued the ChiComs about the rising water levels due to global warming?

Oh, that’s right, he doesn’t harangue them about pollution, either.

Afraid to lose that monk money, I guess....

[JRios1968]

Hasn’t Al Gore harangued the ChiComs about the rising water levels due to global warming?

Why do you think they built it so high above the water?

[DoughtyOne]

...will be open to traffic on a trial basis...

LMAO, what does that mean?

[pipecorp]

? so they could get their submarines under it ? ;^)

[OSHA]

That's nothing. In western Scotland they have a "Bridge Over the Atlantic" connecting to the Isle of Seil

[rawhide]

Not for those with gephyrophobia.

[Wonder Warthog]

Lake Ponchartrain Causeway Bridge -- 24 miles = 39 km

Admittedly, it's not "cross-sea", but it's still longer.

[sam_paine]

The sky in this picture is 'clearly' photoshopped.

[Minutemen]

I hope they buit it with better quality materials than they do with all their other S*%!t.

[mrs. a]

And it’s constructed entirely of melamine!

[MSRiverdog]

There’s a reason for that test period. :)

[So Cal Rocket]

The 36 km span will shorten travel time between Shanghai and Ningbo, two key port cities in China's prosperous Yangtze River Delta, to two-and-a-half hours from four.

So the average speed will be 10mph???

[Lx]

Looks like the incredibly expensive to use bridge to Prince Edwards Island.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

LMAO, what does that mean?

It's for buses only at first; no cars allowed until next February, is what's being bandied about.

The sky in this picture is 'clearly' photoshopped.

No, Shanghai (in the picture) is usually quite good. It's right near the Yellow Sea, gets good breezes and is rarely smoggy. It's about equal to Los Angeles.

Ningbo is even better, but a lot hotter. Summer's in Ningbo can hit 115 deg F, with 95% humidity. But it's pretty wide open, has a nice stretch of small mountains to immediately to the West, and rather low population for a Chinese city (only around 5.5 million in the greater Ningbo area).

So the average speed will be 10mph???

Well, it's 90 minutes from Shanghai to the bay bridge, then another hour from the bay bridge to Ningbo. It's not directly across from Shanghai to Ningbo, but futher up the bay, where it's shallower and narrower. So it saves a good amount of time, but it still is a bit of a drive from the center of either city to get to the bridge.

[JACKRUSSELL]

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[Secret Agent Man]

Melamine and bone-nourishing lead!