The world’s longest bridge over water, connecting China’s port city of Qingdao with an airport on the other side of Jiaozhou Bay, has finally opened. The bridge is 26.4 miles long, making it the longest bridge in the world.
The building of the bridge has generated some amazing statistics:
• It stands on 5,200 pillars.
• It cost around $1.5 billion to build.
• It uses enough steel for almost 65 Eiffel Towers – 450,000 tons, along with 81 million cubic feet of concrete.
• It can withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons, or the impact of a 300,000 ton ship.
GEC member TomKjeldsen found the bridge in Google Earth, and added a few paths to show the bridge in the “open water” areas that don’t show anything in there.
To see it for yourself, you can simply use this KMZ file.
The bridge will hold its title for about 5 years; in 2016, a 30 mile bridge is expected to be completed that links Hong Kong with Macao and Guandong province.
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
Clicking on “historical imagery” shows those hidden areas too 🙂
I don’t understand why this is considered the longest bridge over water. If you measure it in Google Earth, it clearly shows the main bridge is only 15 miles long. The spur is another mile and a half or so.
And guess what? 16.3 miles = 26.4 km. I think there is a severe mix-up with the conversion of units for this “record”.
This is not the longest bridge over water. Despite hearing many claims from bridges in Europe and in Asia nearly every year, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway has been the longest continuous bridge over water since the 1970’s, and is still the longest in the world.
It all depends on how you define ‘bridge’, and if you include portions that do not cross water. There’s also a distinction in use: the longest bridge of any type is a railway bridge (in China) that’s just under 100 miles long. The Jiaozhou Bridge really is 26+ miles, but you’re right in saying that only about 15 miles are across water, so the Pontchartrain Bridge is still the longest ‘continuous bridge’. See wikipedia for the complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_bridges_in_the_world
all depends on how you define ‘bridge’, and if you include portions that do not cross water. There’s also a distinction in use: the longest bridge of any type is a railway bridge
check
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain_Causeway#Longest_bridge_controversy_July_2011