The world's longest cross-sea bridge, spanning 36.48 kilometers across the mouth of the Jiaozhou Bay in eastern Shandong Province, opened to traffic on Thursday, 30 July 2011, four years after construction started.
The bridge, connecting urban Qingdao with the city's less-developed district of Huangdao, cost about 14.8 billion yuan (2.3 billion U.S. dollars). Authorities expect the project to boost the development of an industrial zone in Huangdao and to facilitate the rise of foreign trade by increasing the port's handling capacity. CCCTV says the bridge has passed construction appraisals and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic is now open. The bridge supported by more than 5000 pillars was built in four years. Guinness World Records says the previous record holder for a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The Chinese bridge is more than 4km longer.
