World’s longest bridge over water is in China

The 42.5km Qingdao Haiwan Bridge connecting the city of Qingdao in China’s Shandong Province and Huangdao city across the Jiaozhou Bay is the longest bridge over water in the world.

The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge took the title as the world’s longest bridge in late 2011 when it surpassed the Pontchartrain Bridge in the US by 5km.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, the bridge has eight tracks, allowing 30,000 cars to cross per day, cutting the time from Qingdao to Huangdao by 20 to 30 minutes. 

It took four years and $8.6 billion to build the bridge. 10,000 workers were involved in the project.

The bridge has a steel base, 5,200 columns, weighs 45 tons and is built to withstand strong hurricanes and earthquakes measuring up to 8 on the Richter Scale.

China is home to seven of the ten longest bridges in the world. The Danyang-Kunshan Railway Bridge over sea and land near Shanghai is 102km long.

China is pumping billions of dollars to improve the country’s infrastructure. The construction of a 31-mile bridge connecting Zhuhai city south of Guangdong Province, the heartland of Chinese industry, with the financial centre of Hong Kong was started in December 2009. The $6.5 billion project is expected to be completed in 2016.