BRIDGE TO SOMEWHERE

China Opens Longest Water Bridge

26.4-mile span connects port to island.

America may still be the world’s largest economy, but China has stolen the title of largest bridge over water. The new Jiaozhou Bridge, opening Thursday, is 26.4 miles long and connects the port city of Qingdao to Huangdao Island. It’s 110 feet wide, features 5,000 pillars, took four years to build, and cost—well, estimates range from $1.5 billion to $8.8 billion. The Guinness Book of World Records named it the world’s largest such bridge, surpassing the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway in Louisiana by 2.5 miles. Guinness noted that the bridge is made to withstand heavy weather as well as the impact of a 300,000-ton vessel. It required as much steel as nearly 65 Eiffel Towers.