Zhuhai City, S China: A 3,000-ton bridge span, the heaviest of its kind in China, was hoisted onto the bridge piers of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on Wednesday.The 130-meter-long steel bridge span is a critical part of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge project beginning in 2009. It will connect Hong Kong on the east bank of the Pearl River Delta, one of China's economically developed regions, to Zhuhai and Macao cities on the west bank.
Two floating cranes hoisted the bridge span from a huge barge and put it onto the two piers. Workers checked stress of steel cables of the cranes each time when 200 tons of weight from the bridge section were added to their load.
"The workers check stress of the steel cables to see if they are able to stand weight of the bridge span. We test the cables each time when 200 tons are added to their load," said a worker.
Builders will continue to lay spans on the remaining sections of the bridge onto the piers.
After completion in 2016, the 49.968-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, made from 300,000 tons of steel, will shorten the time of driving between Zhuhai and Hong Kong from three hours to merely half an hour. And the life expectancy of the bridge can be as long as 120 years, according to constructors.
