Hangzhou Bay Bridge

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Hangzhou Bay Bridge

Carries	6 lanes of expressway
Crosses	Hangzhou Bay
Locale	Jiaxing / Cixi City
Longest span	448 m (1,470 ft)
Total length	35.673 km (22 mi)
Beginning date of construction	June 8, 2003
Completion date	June 26, 2007
Opening date	May 1, 2008
Toll	yes

Coordinates	30°27′N 121°08′E / 30.45, 121.133Coordinates: 30°27′N 121°08′E / 30.45, 121.133

Chinese fleet before the bridge's construction

The twinned towers of the bridge, from the northbound span

Hangzhou Bay Bridge (simplified Chinese: 杭州湾大桥; traditional Chinese: 杭州灣大橋; pinyin: Hángzhōu Wān Dàqiáo), is a bridge with cable-stayed bridge portion across Hangzhou Bay off the eastern coast of China. It was linked up on June 14, 2007,^[1] and connects the municipalities of Shanghai and Ningbo in Zhejiang province. The bridge is the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world, although it does not have the longest cable-stayed main span. The opening ceremony was held on June 26, 2007 with great domestic media publicity, though after the opening ceremony, the bridge would only be used for test and evaluation purposes. It was opened to the public on May 1, 2008.^[2]

1 Description
2 History
3 Impact
4 Service centre
5 Controversy
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Description

Construction of this bridge started on June 8, 2003. The bridge itself is 35.673 kilometres (22 mi) long with six expressway lanes in two directions, making it the second-longest bridge in the world after the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA. The bridge has two main spans, with a 448-metre (1,470 ft) northern span, and a 318-metre (1,043 ft) southern span.^[3] The designated speed is 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph), and the designed longevity is more than 100 years. The total investment on the bridge was RMB 11.8 billion (US$ 1.4 billion as of December 2004). 35% of this amount was raised from private companies in Ningbo, 59% was provided as loans from China's central and regional banks. Orthotropic steel deck is used on its main spans and five ramp bridges, and was paved with 50 millimetres (2.0 in) epoxy asphalt concrete. The bridge is shaped in an 's', so that the annual silver dragon is minimully affected. The length of the bridge is decorated with flashing lights of different colors to distract from drowsiness, and keep attention on the road instead.

[edit] History

The bridge underwent various feasibility studies for a decade before it was finally approved in 2003. The original plan was for the northern end of the bridge to start at Jinshan, a suburb of Shanghai. After objections were raised by the Shanghai Municipal Government, however, it was shifted south to the territory of Zhejiang province. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge connects Cixi City, west of Ningbo, to Jiaxing. Whereas previously the trip from Ningbo to Shanghai and southern Jiangsu involved a detour of around 400 km (249 mi), the bridge reduces that distance to 80 km (50 mi), a reduction of 320 km (199 mi). The result is that Ningbo, with its port at Beilun, will be able to compete with Shanghai's port Pudong for international sea freight.

[edit] Impact

Tourism is also expected to expand in Ningbo. Whereas a trip from Shanghai on the high speed superhighway along the coast takes slightly over 4 hours, after the bridge is built a drive to Ningbo will be reduced to less than two hours.^[4] The construction of the bridge is a part of China's continuing heavy investment in its transportation infrastructure as well as a step for Ningbo and northern Zhejiang to merge into the Greater Shanghai economic area. It was originally planned to be finished in 2009, before the Shanghai Expo 2010 World's fair, but amazingly finished this project and opened this bridge to the general public on May 1st, 2008.

[edit] Service centre

There will be a service centre on this expressway. Mid-way through the bridge, a service island will be built for cars to turn off the road for rest, food, hotel, top of the line conference room, a lookout tower shaped like a ball and a wide-range of services. The island is actually a platform resting on piers, thus it will not impede the normal sea current in the Bay.

[edit] Controversy

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Critics point out that such showpiece project is the proof of the city officials' superficiality,^{[citation needed]} and ignored the real need of the city, causing the city and its residents to pay much more and much longer in the long run to recover the investment cost. As a result, the budget for the construction of the bridge had to be increased five times since 2003, and by the time the bridge was finally opened on June 26, 2007, the price tag has already increased for more than RMB 2.2 billion to over RMB 14 billion from the original RMB 11.8 billion, an 18.6%+ increase.^{[citation needed]} In contrast, the local annual inflation rate during this period was only 3% or less, and the explanation of the local governments for the increased cost resulting for the increased prices of building materials was widely dismissed by the local population.

Corruption was another major concern of the project, especially for the steel used in the projects. There were numerous reports accusing how the corrupted contractors attempting to circumvent the requirement and safety standards: because the inspection standards for the raw materials were harsh, it was more difficult for the corrupted contractors get away by using inferior steel with poor quality, and as a result, the amount of steel was reduced in comparison to what was required by regulations and safety standards.^{[citation needed]} These reports raised so much concerns that cadres of the local anti-corruption bureaus which received these reports, as well as many representatives of the local People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at various levels had openly voiced their concerns and demanded the governments to investigate, and they were joined by some of the private investors. The local governments, however, only claimed that the investigation had revealed the problems existed, all of which were fixed, and this was cited as one of the reasons for the increased cost. However, as of 2007, the investigative report still remained off-limit to the public despite the popular demand for public access