This past weekend China opened the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a new cross-sea tunnel and bridge system located in Guangdong Province, South China. The architectural marvel apparently breaks 10 world records – albeit very specific ones.
The Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea, is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It encompasses Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong, which are separated by wide bodies of water – and that makes getting around a massive pain.
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is designed to remedy that. The link runs for 24 km (15 miles), connecting the two cities in its name which are located on opposite banks of the Pearl River estuary. It’s not one long bridge though – an underwater tunnel in the middle runs between two artificial islands, with bridges connecting each island to the city on that side.
With eight lanes allowing for speeds of up to 100 km/h (62 mph), the link apparently shaves what’s normally a two-hour drive down to just 30 minutes. After seven years of construction, the link finally opened to traffic at 3 pm local time on June 30.
According to the China Global Television Network (CGTN), the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link sets 10 new world records. They aren’t your basic records like longest or biggest bridge, though – in fact, they’re hilariously specific. Here’s the list:
- Largest span for a fully offshore steel box girder suspension bridge (1,666 m/5,466 ft)
- Highest bridge deck (91 m/299 ft)
- Highest navigation clearance for a sea bridge
- Largest offshore suspension bridge anchor (344,000 m3 /12 million cubic ft of concrete)
- Highest wind resistance test speed for a suspension bridge (83.7 m/273.6 ft per second)
- Largest steel bridge deck with hot-mix epoxy asphalt paving (378,800 m2 /4 million sq ft)
- Longest two-way, eight-lane immersed tube tunnel (5,035 m/16,519 ft)
- Widest underwater steel shell-concrete immersed tube tunnel (up to 55.6 m/182.4 ft)
- Largest single-volume cast for a steel-shell immersed tube using self-compacting concrete (29,000 m3 /1 million cubic ft per tube section)
- Widest repeatedly foldable M-shaped water stop used in the final joint of an immersed tube tunnel (3 m/9.8 ft)
It also happens to be the world's first underwater expressway interchange and airport interchange.
On top of all that, the tunnel section packs some intriguing safety features, including new firefighting and smoke exhaust systems. A team of 14 robots constantly patrols the tunnel, monitoring the pipes and cables that keep everything running smoothly, and can even keep an eye out for car accidents. When that happens, they can apparently direct traffic via built-in loudspeakers, and film the scene while transmitting it to a remote control center.
Lights along the walls also feature color-coded light systems. When all is fine they’re green, but in emergencies they’ll turn red. They can even progressively turn from yellow to green along the length of the tunnel to help guide people in the right direction during an evacuation.
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link joins the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge – the world’s longest sea crossing bridge, located about 31 km (19 miles) away – in helping people get around these densely populated areas a bit easier.
Sources: State Council of People’s Republic of China, CGTN, Xinhua