World’s longest cross sea bridge

The world’s longest cross-sea bridge, spanning 36.48 kilometres across the mouth of the Jiaozhou Bay in China’s eastern Shandong province, was opened to traffic on July1,2011, four years after construction started.

The bridge, connecting urban Qingdao with the city’s less-developed district of Huangdao, cost about 14.8 billion yuan (USD 2.3 billion).

Authorities expect the project to boost the development of an industrial zone in Huangdao and to facilitate the rise of foreign trade by increasing the port''s handling capacity.

The business community have been complaining of the inconvenience of the current, less-efficient sea transport, whose operation is at the mercy of the weather.

The bridge will shorten the route between Huangdao and urban Qingdao by 30 km, cutting the travel time down from over 40 minutes to around 20 minutes.

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