Because the meteorological, hydrologic, geological and other natural conditions of the sea are much more complicated than those of the land or river, the construction of the cross-sea bridge basically represents the highest level of bridge engineering in various countries. Now let’s take a look at the 10 longest sea Bridges in the world.
It should be noted that the standards used by each cross-sea bridge when announcing the data are different: some are the length of the cross-sea part of the bridge, some are the overall length of the bridge (including the land part), and some are the distance of the entire bridge project (including tunnels, artificial islands and land). The criterion used in this ranking is the entire bridge engineering distance.
No.1 Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in China
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is a super-large cross-sea corridor connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao, with a total length of 55 kilometers, 28.9 kilometers across the sea and 6.75 kilometers of undersea tunnel. On December 15, 2009, the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge officially began, and it opened for operation on October 24, 2018.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is world-famous for its huge construction scale, unprecedented construction difficulty and state-of-the-art construction technology. It greatly shortens the traffic time of Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao, and has extremely high strategic significance and economic value.
No.2 Zhoushan Cross-Sea Bridge
Also known as “Zhoushan mainland island project”. Construction began on September 26, 1999, and opened on December 25, 2009.
The Zhoushan cross-Sea Bridge is the world’s largest island-land link project. The main bridge of Xihoumen Bridge is a two-span continuous steel box girder suspension bridge, which is the longest steel box girder suspension bridge in the world.
No.3 Seto Bridge in Japan
The total length is 37.3 km, 13.1 km at sea; Construction began on October 10, 1978, and full operation began on April 10, 1988. The Seto Bridge is a bridge that crosses the Seto Inland Sea from Honshu (Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture) to Shikoku (Sakexide, Kagawa Prefecture). The whole bridge is connected by a number of suspension Bridges, oblique Bridges and beam Bridges, forming a spectacular bridge group.
No.4 Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the United States
The Chesapeake Bay is the deepest inland bay of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern United States, stretching from south to north, between Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is 37 kilometers long, about 4 kilometers across the sea, and 1.6 kilometers of tunnels. Construction began in 1960 and opened to traffic in 1964, when it was known as one of the “seven wonders of the modern world”.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge consists of 20.11 km of concrete low viaducts, two 1.6-km subsea tunnels, two high-elevation steel Bridges, four 457 m artificial islands, 3.2 km causeways and 8.85 km approach Bridges.
No.5 Jiaozhou Bay cross-Sea Bridge
Also known as “Qingdao Bay Bridge”, with a total length of 36.48 kilometers and a sea length of 25.17 kilometers. It is the cross-sea channel of Huangdao District, Chengyang District, Licang District and Jiaozhou City in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, located on the Jiaozhou Bay. Construction began on December 26, 2006 and it was put into use on June 30, 2011.
No.6 Hangzhou Bay Sea Bridge
The bridge starts from Zhengjiadai, Haiyan, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province in the north, to Cixi Waterway Bay, Ningbo City in the south, across the Hangzhou Bay, a total length of 35.67 kilometers. Construction began on June 8, 2003, and was completed on May 1, 2008.
The bridge introduces the concept of landscape design, with the help of the aesthetic concept of “long bridge lying wave”, presenting an S-shaped curve, attracting many visitors to drive sightseeing. About 14 kilometers from the south bank, there is an area of 12,000 square meters in the sea platform, both as a rescue platform, but also an excellent tourism and leisure sightseeing platform.
No.7 Donghai Bridge
It starts from Luchao Port in Pudong New Area of Shanghai, connects with Hulu Expressway in the north, crosses the northern waters of Hangzhou Bay in the south, and reaches Xiaoyangshan Island in Shengsi County, Zhejiang Province. It is 32.5 km long and 25.5 km across the sea. Construction officially began on June 26, 2002, and it opened to traffic at the end of 2005.
No.8 Quanzhou Bay cross-Sea Bridge
It is located in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. Quanzhou Bay cross-sea Bridge is a bridge from Jinjiang and Hui ‘an, with a total length of 26.699 kilometers, is currently the longest bridge in Fujian Province. It was built on December 31, 2009 and opened to traffic on May 12, 2015.
No.9 Jintang Bridge in Zhoushan
Located in the sea area between Jintang Island and Ningbo Zhenhai, it is the longest of the five Bridges in Zhoushan Island Connecting Project, with a total length of 26.54 kilometers, of which the sea part is 18.27 kilometers long.
The construction of the Jintang Bridge began in April 2006 and was officially opened to traffic on November 22, 2009. During the construction period, the bridge was hit by two super typhoons, and the bridge was in the beam period at that time.
No.10 King Fahd Bridge
The Gulf of Bahrain, located in the Persian Gulf, is a cross-sea highway bridge connecting Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Among them, the reclaimed embankment is 10 kilometers and is connected by five Bridges, and the middle bridge is located on the main channel, leaving a huge boat hole 28 meters high and 150 meters in span for ships to pass. Construction began in 1981 and it opened to traffic on November 25, 1986.
