Record breaking bridge connecting Shanghai and Ningbo opens
The world’s longest cross-ocean bridge was inaugurated Thursday in Shanghai, as the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which links Jiaxing near Shanghai with the port city of Ningbo to the south, was opened for a trial run.
From a cargo standpoint, the new 22-mile-long, S-shaped bridge could be very significant, as it will cut travel distance between Shanghai and Ningbo by 120 kilometers and several hours. That will allow goods manufactured on either side of the bay to be routed through ports in either city, increasing competition.
Ironically, the bridge displaces another Shanghai bridge as the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge, as that title was held by the Donghai Bridge that connects southeastern Shanghai with its 3-year-old Yangshan deepwater container port. The longest bridge in the world is considered to be the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway Bridge in Louisiana, which is about a mile-and-a-half longer than the Hangzhou bridge.
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