Jiaozhou Sea Bridge can withstand earthquakes

The 26.4 miles long Jiaozhou Sea bridge of China, opened three months ago, has become an engineering marvel. It has snatched the title from the USA’s Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana by stretching by two-and-a-half miles longer. The six-lane 110 foot wide, Y-shaped bridge across the Jiaozhou bay which cost US $2.3 billion and took four years to build, has cut down the commuting distance between the rapidly growing Quingdao city and the industrial suburb of Huangdao by around 18 miles. An astonishing 45,000 tonnes of steel and 2.3 million cubic metres of concrete were used in the construction of the bridge which can withstand the impact of a 300,000 tonne vessel, strong cyclones and earthquakes which are 8 on the Richter scale. Supported by 5,200 pillars, the bridge was built in a unique manner – 10,000 workers in two teams worked on the two ends of the bridge, and then connected the two ends. Simultaneously another team of engineers worked on a 9.7km long underwater tunnel, running parallel to the bridge, which will help reduce traffic congestion, and cost about $1 billion. Around 30,000 cars use the bridge every day.