China surprises the world with its new bridge
- Current Events
- Nov 3, 2018
- 2 min read
On October 23, Chinese President Xi Jinping, inaugurated the bridge "Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao, the longest in the world over the sea. Its construction lasted 9 years between delays and problems. It measures 55 km, linking Hong Kong and mainland China. With a cost of 20,000 million dollars, it is composed of 400,000 tons of steel equivalent to 60 Eiffel Towers and is earthquake-proof up to 8 degrees and typhoons.
The bridge will be a great advantage to reduce the amount of time people spend traveling. The journey will go from 4 hours, to only 45 minutes between the two cities. Another important detail, is that a small part of the work is submerged. This means that a small stretch of 6.7 km, is a tunnel under the sea to not interrupt maritime trade. That little tunnel is connected to the rest through two artificial islands.
The work is going to transport thousands of people and businesses a day. It is a key piece for the integration and economic development of the areas of the bay that travel daily. In addition, it is an important piece for the modernization of the country and demonstrate its development in engineering and technology. But just as it has its advantages, also has its disadvantages. There will be several impacts on the maritime ecosystem, for example, the white dolphin that is already in danger of extinction, more apart, the people who walk on foot as to transport and also the pollution that it will cause. But that was not important, because with President Xi at the opening ceremony, it represented a sign that China was obligatorily conceding to the project.
This project will be of great help and development for China, the country with the most population in the world. But it must also have its proper management so that it functions correctly and in an organized way. 126,000 passengers and 29,000 vehicles are expected to cross daily. Due to that, at the moment the quotas of use of the vehicles are still being discussed, and they and the trucks, will have to have a special permission to be able to transit on it.
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Illustration taken from:
https://www.semana.com/mundo/articulo/china-inauguro-puente-mas-largo-del-mundo/242255-3
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