
World's longest sea crossing: Hong Kong-Zhuhai bridge opens - gadders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45937924
======
larrysalibra
The bridge, while very interesting as a large infrastructure project is
laughably useless for many stakeholders.

Own a car in Hong Kong and want to drive across it to Macau? You need to get
vehicle registration plates (some "electronic" or temporary) in 3
jurisdictions. You also need insurance for 3 jursidictions. Also, you can only
drive to a parking lot outside of Macau and then transfer to public transit to
enter the city. And you need to register for a parking space 12 hours before
your trip. Watch this hilarious HK government video on the process:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO3bNlB9j9o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO3bNlB9j9o)

But you don't own a car! Like most Hong Kongers, you take public transit.
Surely this bridge will make it faster than the 1 hour ferry ride that leaves
from 2 ferry piers in the middle of the city every 15 minutes or so all day
and night. Unfortunately this isn't the case. The buses across the bridge from
Hong Kong leave from the airport and take 40 minutes. You'll have to take
another bus from the airport to the city at the cost of another 45 to 60
minutes.

This is a political project to show that Hong Kong and Macau are being
integrated into China.

As political projects go, this certainly isn't the worst of them. It's better
than the other things governments do to bolster domestic support like wars or
locking up people you don't like. At least we'll all get to have a fun day
trying out the bridge and something for tourists to take pictures of as they
land in Hong Kong and Macau.

Perhaps in the future policies will change and it will become easy to us the
bridge as a normal bridge.

If you're interested in learning more, here's a great article with more
background: [https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/10/23/explainer-hong-
kongs-t...](https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/10/23/explainer-hong-kongs-
troubled-mega-bridge-counting-human-environmental-financial-cost/)

~~~
skwirl
I would have greatly appreciated this bridge being open when I stayed in Macau
for a few days and had to fly home out of Hong Kong. There was a lot of
overhead time with the ferry -- even with the Skypier transfer (and ferries to
the airport do not run every 15 minutes). We left our hotel at noon for a
6:15pm flight.

~~~
pietro
So it's essentially a bridge to the nearest international airport from Macau?

~~~
jpatokal
Not even that: Macau has its own international airport. While Asian
destinations are well covered, you need to go to HKG for long-hauls though.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_International_Airport#Ai...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_International_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations)

------
js2
FWIW, here on the East Coast of the U.S. we have the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Tunnel. It’s 23 miles overall (17.6 miles shore to shore), two lanes each
direction, and includes two tunnels of one mile each. The tunnels are part of
the original construction and are only one lane each direction so traffic has
to merge for the tunnels.

I cross the bridge twice a year. It’s a long way. The Zhuhai bridge at 11
miles longer and double the tunnel distance must be quite something. I think I
might be a little nervous driving in a tunnel that length.

One thing I’ve noticed in the CBBT is that cars inevitably slow down on the
upgrade out of the tunnel which is a hazard. I wonder if this will be a more
significant hazard for the Zhuhai with the longer tunnel and more lanes.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_Bridge%E2%80%93...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_Bridge%E2%80%93Tunnel)

~~~
munificent
I used to regularly cross the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway [1] which was for
many years the longest bridge in the world at 23.83 miles. It is a soul-
crushingly boring drive and dangerous given how monotonous and narrow it is.

A friend used to have this interesting strategy for staying awake when
crossing at night. There are two lanes going each way. He would straddle the
pair and take up both lanes. That way, if he fell asleep and started drifting,
the Botts' dots [2] on the centerline would wake him up as his wheels drifted
over them. Probably not the smartest technique.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain_Causeway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain_Causeway)

[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botts%27_dots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botts%27_dots)

~~~
js2
I've driven across the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway a couple times. I didn't
recall it was that long. I've also driven the overseas highway many times.

I don't know if there's any truth to it, but I've heard claims that the
original Seven Mile Bridge which was built on railroad trestles and was
therefor very narrow had fewer fatalities than the modern bridge that replaced
it. The idea was that on the old narrow bridge, drivers obeyed the speed limit
and paid much better attention than on the modern wider bridge which lulled
drivers into being less careful.

------
baybal2
Another thing, bridge's weird trajectory is reflecting decades long conflict
of Shenzhen municipality's and economic planners in Beijing. For long, they
tried to maximally deprive "Shenzhen upstarts" from economic benefit from them
neighbouring Hongkong.

The bridge was more about diverting economic influence of HK's _away from_
Shenzhen, than providing an economic benefit _to_ HK.

Shenzhen's answer was building their own bridge to another bank of the delta
with their own money.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen%E2%80%93Zhongshan_Bri...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen%E2%80%93Zhongshan_Bridge)

Once Shenzhen–Zhongshan bridge will be operational, it will completely
jeopardise Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge economically.

On top of that, there is a persistent rumour that there is a political will to
do a tunnel to Nei Lingding island, and add another connection to Zhuhai from
there (so called revived Lingdingyang tunnel.) This is also the very reason
why Beijing has declared the tiny Lingding island a "National Level" natural
reserve, thus depriving Shenzhen's officials jurisdiction over it.

~~~
maeln
Honest question: why would the government try to drive economic influence away
from Shenzhen ?

~~~
Balero
My, completely amateur, idea would be that, there are two major regions in
China for centralised power. Beijing and Shanghai. Now with the massive growth
in the Peal River Delta region, there is a base for a third major region.
Currently it is not, because there is no one leader, you have Macau, Hong
Kong, Shenzhen, and a large number of other cities in the region.

If Shenzhen, and the people in charge there, are able to become the defacto
leaders of the entire region, then you have another centralised regional base,
away from Beijing. Which means less power in the central government.

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ghobs91
China's going to have a hell of a time maintaining all this infrastructure
they're building in a few decades. Maintaining things currently in use is a
lot harder than building new, just ask the US.

~~~
grecy
I don't have stats to back it up, but it seems the US is the only developed
country that is neglecting their infrastructure.

Don't generalize the problem to include the whole world when it only affects
one country.

~~~
reaperducer
Travel more, and you'll see it happens in almost every nation.

~~~
grecy
this is me theroadchoseme.com

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djsumdog
No rail link? Only private transport? Seriously? Why put that much effort into
a structure that can only move cars and buses?

~~~
romed
Only 9200 vehicles per day, that’s really small. The SF-Oakland bridge does a
quarter million vehicles daily. I wonder how they can justify the cost for so
little.

~~~
xyzzyz
On the other hand, their cost per mile is a third of the SF-Oakland bridge,
meaning we could have had three bridges for the same price if we let Chinese
build them.

~~~
romed
The Bay Bridge happens to have twice as many lanes.

~~~
greeneggs
It's also in earthquake country.

And it _was_ made in China!

> At $7.2 billion, it will be one of the most expensive structures ever built.
> But California officials estimate that they will save at least $400 million
> by having so much of the work done in China. …

> [Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company] put 3,000 employees to work on
> the project: steel-cutters, welders, polishers and engineers. The company
> built the main bridge tower, which was shipped in mid-2009, and a total of
> 28 bridge decks — the massive triangular steel structures that will serve as
> the roadway platform.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge....](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge.html)

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pwaivers
Despite the criticisms, this is pretty awe-inspiring. I wish the US had big
construction projects like this also.

~~~
josefresco
You mean like the 'Big Dig'?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig)

[https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-big-dig-facts-and-
figu...](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-big-dig-facts-and-figures)

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Locals like to call it the "big handout." It was a boondoggle project that
just showcased the fact that anyone whos connected can get a slice of the
government spending pie. They should have just upgraded the central artery.
There's a reason Boston is the goto example worldwide for why you don't put
your highways underground.

~~~
Spooky23
Why? It seems to work pretty well compared to before.

Boston in general is a traffic nightmare, so I’m not sure how to measure
success/failure.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>Why?

It cost a ton more than any other way of delivering a similiar result.
Operating costs are higher than a raised highway because it's underground. The
only pro is that a bunch of rich progressives who don't actually live in
Boston get to pat themselves on the back about how the old eyesore of a raised
highway that "divides the city" (or some mumbo jumbo like that) is gone.
That's not enough to be worth the price. It was a boondoggle. They should have
just rebuilt the raised highway.

------
pwaivers
> _Authorities initially estimated that 9,200 vehicles would cross the bridge
> every day._

This is... very few. Should they open it up to anyone that wants to use it?
Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of connecting the cities.

~~~
pcr0
Car ownership in Hong Kong, and even the rest of the bay area is relatively
low. Lot of it is probably buses.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
A look at a satellite view shows the bridge pretty much empty - maybe 3
trucks. And no backup at the 'customs house' on the end - totally empty lanes.
Maybe it was a holiday or the weekend; but still.

[https://www.google.com/maps/search/kong-zhuhai-
macau+bridge/...](https://www.google.com/maps/search/kong-zhuhai-
macau+bridge/@22.2109847,113.5819902,399m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)

Oh! The HK end is still under construction in the picture. So its old. The
trucks are probably bringing supplies for construction.

------
emptybits
Fascinating and creepy: The surveillance tech on the bridge attempts to detect
sleepy drivers so "yawn three times and the authorities will be alerted". [OP]

~~~
azinman2
That’s not the most efficient heuristic, however. The best predictor before
people crash is a motion of one trying to keep their eyes open, basically with
their face opening up.

Source: I know people working on automated machinery to detect this in pilots.

~~~
hanoz
Even if yawning and face opening are predictors of a sleep crash, given that
they are both methods people use to help keep themselves awake, does creating
an environment where drivers feel they are not allowed to perform them
actually lead to fewer accidents?

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fouronnes
> it was built using 400,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel
> Towers.

Except the Eiffel Tower is made of iron, not steel.

~~~
galago
I don't have a good source at the moment, but I think steel is somewhere
around 97% iron by weight. The rest is carbon. Stainless steel has about 10%
chromium.

------
JumpCrisscross
> _The bridge is not served by public transport, so private shuttle buses will
> ply the route. There is no rail link._

Why no rail link?

------
pkaye
> Authorities initially estimated that 9,200 vehicles would cross the bridge
> every day.

I guess it will take a while to break even on the bridge costs.

------
sbhavani
Having made the ferry trip from HK to Zhuhai several times by ferry, I have to
admit I'd take a more comfortable bus or shuttle limo ride any day. The
advantage will be that now investors who do have the dual residency will be
more willing to travel to Zhuhai which is lagging economically with it's
neighbors

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NicoJuicy
> Special cameras will be on the look-out for drivers on the bridge who show
> signs of getting sleepy, among other checks - yawn three times and the
> authorities will be alerted, local media report.

Now this is a little bit extreme...

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baybal2
Big thing to not: it not only links Zhuhai and HK, but also Zhuhai and
Shenzhen through land transit over HK territory

~~~
strayamaaate
This is actually a big deal. You can go right through Hong Kong and never
leave Mainland jurisdiction.

Talk about showing who owns who.

There was a bit of moaning about it in HK, but it was off the front page news
fairly quickly.

~~~
dividuum
I've been trying to see how that works for 15 minutes now and the furthest I
get is to Tuen Mun, which is still in Hong Kong. I'm probably missing
something trivial.

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profalseidol
This article feels salty and jealous.

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the_clarence
"at least 18 workers have died building this bridge"

~~~
isostatic
9 died during construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland.
Construction - especially large scale civil engineering, is dangerous.

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cromwellian
A skeptic in me makes me suspicious that there isn’t another function for such
bridges: making it easier to roll tanks into HK if there’s an uprising one
day.

~~~
akfanta
I am sorry but your comment is dumb on so many levels. You do know HK is
directly connected to mainland China, right? No bridge is needed if they want
tanks over there.

~~~
cromwellian
I know, I’ve been to Hong Kong many times. Maybe you should take a look at the
map, only part of Hong Kong is directly connected.

Of course, there’s tons of bridges already that can be used. But remember, one
justification for the US national highway system was easy troop movement, My
comment simply reflects on historical justifications of infrastructure having
a military purpose.

