Chongming link a step closer
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/20...icle_364905.htm
By Lu Feiran | 2008-6-28 |

ANOTHER link in the Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge project was completed in Shanghai yesterday.





Major engineering work on the tunnel section, from Pudong New Area to Changxing Island, and the bridge section from Changxing to Chongming Island, are now finished.

The tunnel and bridge project stretches 25.5 kilometers, with the tunnel 8.9 kilometers and the bridge 10.3 kilometers long. A 6.3-kilometer highway has been built on Changxing Island to link the two.

"The designed speed limit for the tunnel is 80 kilometers an hour and the bridge's limit is between 100 and 120km/h," said Fan Xinrong, project manager for the tunnel and bridge's construction headquarters.

The whole project is expected to be operating in 2010. Then it will take only 45 minutes to travel from Pudong to Chongming, a saving of at least an hour.

Because of the length of the tunnel, designers are considering lining the tunnel with different colors and lighting styles to prevent driver fatigue. The tunnel ceiling will look like a night sky with "stars."

The tunnel has emergency passages every 270 meters connecting the parallel tubes that make up the basis of the tunnel. Another eight passages will link the highway and Metro line sections.

The bridge has a projected life span of 100 years and is designed to withstand earthquakes, collisions and gales.

"The piers can withstand a large ship colliding with them and the structure can cope with gales up to 133 kilometers an hour and an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale," said Guo Zhenwen, director of the headquarters' bridge department.

More than 12.6 billion yuan (US$2 billion) has been invested in the project.

I have been under the impression that the link goes all the way to Jiangsu (north shore of Yangtze), no???

Chinese engineers are truly impressive and have systematically taken world lead. There bridges , buildings, dam etc are number one is the world.

The answer is yes.

But it is not a part of the current project, which is entirely within the Shanghai Municipality Area and connects Pudong Wuhaogou (浦东五号沟), Changxing Island and Chenjiaqiao (陈家桥) in the southeast of Chongming Island. Chenjiaqiao is the starting point of the Chongqi (崇明-启东) Motorway, a westward stretch along Chongming's northern shore that goes all the way to Jiangsu Province via Chongqi Bridge. Work on the 7.6 billion Yuan and 52 km long Chongqi Bridge Project is scheduled for later this year:

http://www.mysteel.com/bxg/xykt/jcjs/2008/...,0,1798676.html

http://www.js.xinhuanet.com/xin_wen_zhong_...nt_13007803.htm

Thanks for the clarification.
The planning could be simpler if it involves only one instead of two (equally big) political sub-divisions. It reminds me of the HKSAR/MacauSAR/Zhuhai bridge project. There are too many cooks in the kitchen and it took a decade of haggling just to figure out who build what, pays for what and how much. Now Shenzhen has entered the picture and demands a connecting "ramp" (that ramp is estimated to be around 10 Km long!) to the southeastern port (Shekou) of the SEZ. I don't think work will never start if these guys keep on taking their complaints to Beijing.

Jiangsu bridge building begins
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=3...&type=Metro
By Lydia Chen and Zhang Jun | 2008-8-1 |

CONSTRUCTION on the 7.2-kilometer bridge that will be part of a 52-kilometer expressway connecting Chongming Island and Jiangsu Province began today.

The six-lane expressway, including a 31-kilometer local section, is the final phase of the Shanghai-Chongming-Jiangsu Connection Project, and is expected to cut the traveling time from Shanghai to Qidong, a small city in Jiangsu, to less than one hour.

The Chongming-Qidong Bridge starts at Chongming's Chenjia Town. In the south it will connect the Yangtze Tunnel and Bridge now being built between Pudong New Area and Chongming Island via Changxing Island.

It will also link with the Nanjing-Qidong Express in the north.

When completed in 2010, the 7.6-billion-yuan (US$1.11 billion) expressway will cut traveling time from Shanghai to northern Jiangsu cities such as Haimen, Nantong and Qidong from about two hours to less than one.

Chongming Island sits in the center of the mouth of the Yangtze River, which separates Shanghai and northern Jiangsu Province.

The Pudong and Chongming connection at present being built is a 25.5-kilometer combination of the Yangtze tunnel and bridge.

A Metro line will also connect the city to the eco-friendly island and from there buses will take passengers to Jiangsu.

The city is building a number of infrastructure projects for the Shanghai World Expo opens in early 2010.


Foundation Laying Ceremony of the Chongming-Qidong Bridge

Financial agreement reached on HK-Zhuhai-Macao link
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008...ent_6908485.htm
By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-06 10:20

Construction of the long-awaited Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will begin no later than 2010, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said yesterday.


"The governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have made a breakthrough in the financing of the bridge. We think the new financial scheme we have laid out will greatly help accelerate its construction," he said.


He was attending the 11th Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Cooperation Conference in Guangzhou yesterday.


Official from the two sides signed 11 agreements relating to the service sector, tourism, science and technology, and large cross-border infrastructure projects.


Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have agreed to invest in the bridge and the central government has approved in principle the project, Tsang said.


"The central government will also invest, and construction of the bridge will begin once it approves the final feasibility report," he said.


The central government and the Guangdong provincial government will have a combined investment of 7 billion yuan ($1 billion), he said.


The government of Hong Kong will invest 6.75 billion yuan, and Macao will spend 1.98 billion yuan, he said.


The investments will make up about 42 percent of the total cost, Tsang said.


"The rest will come from bank loans. The financial agreement will push up the bridge's final feasibility report," he said.


A BOT (build-operate-transfer) financing plan was drawn up early this year. Work on it began in 2002.


Under the BOT scheme, the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will be responsible only for the construction of ports and connective parts of the bridge within their territories.


The main link to the three will be constructed through public financing.


Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua said the bridge is an important structure in developing economic and social ties between Guangdong and Hong Kong.


The two sides will also promote the construction of larger cross-border infrastructure projects, he said.


For example, construction of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Railway is expected to begin next year, and a feasibility report of a railway connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports will be completed at the end of this year, the governor said.

I guess the haggling is finally over,... and now comes the easy part of actually building the damn thing.