Work has begun on a 26km bridge in northeast China, 19km of which will be over the sea, China News Online reports.
The Changhai Cross-sea Bridge will connect the city of Dalian in northeast China’s Liaoning Province with Dachangshan island.
The $10.9bn project will also involve the construction of an artificial island and the four-lane highway that the bridge will carry.
The bridge will be financed, built and operated by a consortium led by China Communications.
It is set to open to traffic by 2029. The schedule is long by Chinese standards, but work will be affected by the region’s extremely cold winters.
The nature of the seabed under the Yellow Sea is also expected to be a challenge for the bridge’s engineers.
Yu Jingxu, the deputy governor of Changhai County, said that once completed, the link would promote regional development.
The Changshan Islands have some 25,000 households, all of whom have uncertain connections to the mainland.
The Yellow Sea has strong tides and winds and frequent fogs, which means that ferries can only operate about 60 days in the year, making access to employment and public services difficult.
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