World's Longest Sea Bridge

The world’s longest sea bridge is the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which was opened for public use in 2008. This fantastic bridge is a stayed cable bridge that offers an S shape and 6 lanes that go in both directions. The bridge connects Cixi county to Jiaxing, and is a total of 22 miles or 36 kilometers in length.

The distance between Shanghai and Ningbo is shortened by taking this route by almost 120 km. The bridge is believed to have a lifespan of about 100 years and cost over $1.7 billion to build, or 11.8 billion Yuan. There is a toll fee to cross the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which is 80 Yuan for each vehicle, and the speed limit is 62 miles per hour or 100 km per hour.

When preparing for the construction of the bridge, almost 600 experts went to work on the design. The chief commander of the bridge project stated that the bridge was to be linked in 2007, but a year later after many tests the bridge was then opened due to safety issues. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge has only a portion that is cable stayed which is from the Hangzhou Bay into the eastern portions of China. This bridge is considered the longest to cover an ocean, but is not the longest cable stayed main span bridge; this title goes to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the United States because it is almost 3 km longer.

The travel time between Ningbo and Shanghai was shortened by an hour and a half by using the bridge, and took off 120 km or 75 miles from the trip. In the center of the bridge, construction is in talks for a service center that will cover 10,000 square meters. This area will have a restaurant, rest area, gas station, conference area and a hotel with a lookout tower for tourists. This service center is believed to be in the works to be built on a small island and platform on top of piers in the Bay. On either side of the bridge, public parks are also in talks but there are no immediate plans.