World’s longest cross-sea bridge has almost the length of a marathon

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China, spanning 41.58 km (25.84 mi), holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge over water. Completed in 2011, the bridge connects the booming Northern port city of Qingdao with an airport built on a nearby island and the industrial suburb of Huang Dao. The road distance between the two cities is reduced by 30 km (19 mi) shortening the travel time by 20-30 min.

The construction of the six-lane and 110ft-(35m)-wide bridge lasted for 4 years, and at least 10,000 workers took part in the project’s realization, working from opposite sides of the bay and linking the two ends together in the middle. For its construction, 450,000 tons of steel was used, enough for almost 65 Eiffel Towers, and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, which is supported by more than 5,000 pillars, has been designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons or the impact of a 300,000 ton ship. The project costed more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, once completed, with its 50 km (31 mile)-length is expected to be even longer than the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge. The bridge was due to completion in 2016, but the project has fallen behind schedule.