(Web Desk) — China recently inaugurated the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in Guangdong, a 24-kilometer engineering marvel comprising an underwater tunnel, two bridges, and two artificial islands.
This ambitious project ranks among the world’s most challenging cross-sea developments and boasts an impressive array of 10 world records.
Here are some highlights of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link’s achievements:
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge:
- World’s longest span for a fully offshore steel box girder suspension bridge, with a main span of 1666 meters.
- World’s highest bridge deck and navigation clearance for a sea bridge, featuring a bridge deck height of 91 meters.
- World’s largest offshore suspension bridge anchor, requiring approximately 344,000 cubic meters of concrete for a single anchor.
- World’s highest wind resistance test speed for a suspension bridge, with a maximum flutter test wind speed of 83.7 m/s.
- World’s largest area covered by steel bridge deck hot-mix epoxy asphalt paving, totaling 378,800 square meters.
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Tunnel: 6. World’s longest two-way eight-lane immersed tube tunnel, stretching 5,035 meters and consisting of 32 tube sections plus one final joint. 7. World’s widest underwater steel shell-concrete immersed tube tunnel, with standard sections measuring 165 meters in length, 46 meters in width (widest at 55.6 meters), and 10.6 meters in height. 8. World’s largest single-volume cast for a steel-shell immersed tube using self-compacting concrete, with a single tube section requiring 29,000 cubic meters of concrete (totaling 910,000 cubic meters). 9. World’s first underwater expressway interchange – airport interchange. 10. World’s widest (three-meter) repeatedly foldable M-shaped water stop used in the final joint of an immersed tube tunnel.
The completion of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link not only marks a significant achievement in engineering but also enhances connectivity and transportation efficiency in the region.
