The world’s longest bridge over water opened for traffic in China on June 30 2011. The 26.4 miles long Jiaozhao Bay bridge connects the eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao. It beat the previous world record holder – the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Luisiana, USA, by about 2 miles.
Various reports claim that it cost between $1.5 billion to $8 bilion and unlike the Pontchartrain bridge, the water below it is not toxic.
It is supported by more than 5,000 pillars and its construction required more than 450,000 tons of steel – the equivalent of 65 Eiffel Towers.But despite being the world’s longest bridge over water, it is almost a quarter of the size of another bridge – the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, which runs over land on the Beijing-Shanghai rail route, is 102 miles long.
