Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opens to public traffic

2. What are the special features of the bridge?

The 55 km-bridge is China's first sea-crossing channel to include a bridge sections, artificial islands and a tunnel.

Main project sketch of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

The east artificial island looks like an oyster shell. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

3. Why build a subsea tunnel? 

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge crosses the busiest channel of the Lingding Sea, with 100 thousand tons navigation capacity, expected to reach 300 thousand tons. Only a suspension bridge with a much larger span and higher headroom could carry the weight. However, it was not permissible to build that kind of bridge near Hong Kong International Port where buildings have to be below a certain height limit. Therefore, a subsea tunnel was the only choice.

For transferring between bridges and the tunnel, two artificial islands were built on each end of the tunnel.

Artificial island on one end of the tunnel [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]