Record-setting Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge due to open to traffic

Billed by China as the world’s longest sea crossing and an engineering marvel, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in the Pearl River Estuary is scheduled to open to traffic this summer. Slightly over 34 miles (55-km) long, it will put the three cities within an hour of each other, and commuters will be crossing borders.

Though officially called a bridge, it is a series of bridges, tunnels and artificial islands across the estuary. The crossing and two other major cross-border infrastructure projects – the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point – are part of a broad push by the central government to integrate the Pearl River Delta region.

Under the so-called one country, two systems policy, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 and Macau returned in 1999. Each enclave has its own money, passports and legal system. In January 2018 the Hong Kong Free Press cited a report in China Daily that says the opening date will depend on the progress of constructing checkpoint facilities and negotiating policies. After several postponements, latest indications suggest it will open sometime in the third quarter of the year.

Britain’s Telegraph notes that the Y-shaped span, which will link the three cities, incorporates the latest engineering technology and design, enabling the structures to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, a super typhoon or a strike by a cargo vessel weighing 300,000 tons. Engineers were confronted with complex geological and topographical conditions, taking into account prevailing winds and tidal forces.

Hong Kong Free Press reports that the project – construction of which commenced in 2009 – has been plagued by over-spending, delays, deadly accidents involving workers, instances of hacking, and falsified test results.