VIDEO See world's longest sea bridge opened in China

See world's longest sea bridge opened in China

China has opened the world’s longest sea bridge, a 26.4 mile-long structure that could easily span the English Channel.Stretching across the wide blue waters of Jiaozhou bay, the vast Y-shaped bridge connects the booming Northern port city of Qingdao with an airport built on a nearby island and the industrial suburb of Huangdao.

The first motorists to roll onto the bridge’s six-lane, 110ft-wide, highway halved their journey time to the other side of the bay to just 30 minutes.

While the bridge will eventually charge cars 50 yuan (£4.80) for the crossing, for a month the drive will be free.



The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The bridge supported by more than 5,000 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 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) longer.