World’s longest sea bridge opens

China's 42.5 km long Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay sea bridge opened to traffic on 30 June, four years after construction began.

The sea bridge, which is said to be the longest in the world, was constructed by state-owned Shandong High Speed Group. It links Qingdao city in China's eastern Shandong province with Huangdao district on the west bank of Jiaozhou Bay. The three lane road bridge cost CNY 14.8 billion (US$ 2.3 billion) to construct.

Located on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, it straddles Jiaozhou Bay and cuts the distance between Qingdao and Huangdao by 30 km.

However, the bridge will only hold the record of "longest sea bridge" for a few years. Construction is scheduled to start this year on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) - a 50 km, three dual lane carriageway sea bridge that will link China's southern Guangdong province with Hong Kong and Macau. The project is scheduled for completion in 2016.