The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the world's longest sea-crossing bridge, with a total length of 55 kilometers, consisting of bridges, islands, tunnels, and connecting lines between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao.
　　On the vast Lingdingyang sea, the bridge builders have established two large artificial islands connected to the tunnel and bridges. The island-tunnel project is the core control project of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, because its comprehensive technical difficulty is second to none in the world, and it is also known as the Everest of transportation engineering.
　　Latest Progress: Bridge deck paving basically completed, island-tunnel enters final sprint
　　Currently, the artificial islands and undersea tunnel have entered the final sprint stage, and the bridge deck paving work is basically completed.
　　The bridge deck paving work of the entire Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the largest in the world, lasting one year, with a total paving area of 700,000 square meters. It is now basically completed, and the six-lane dual carriageway bridge deck looks very spectacular. 　　After the main project is connected, infrastructure construction will continue
　　However, the connectivity of the main project does not mean it is open to traffic. This is like buying a house: the breakthrough of the bridge, island, and tunnel is equivalent to the completion of a roughcast house, but there is still a period before moving in and actual delivery. Next, fine decoration will be carried out, and workers will carry out a series of infrastructure facilities on the connected Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
　　Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge: Setting multiple "world records"
　　Spanning Lingdingyang, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is a super-large sea-crossing channel connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has set multiple world records: it is the world's first sea-crossing bridge integrating bridge, island, and tunnel, with extremely high construction difficulty. Even in the eyes of top bridge experts abroad, it is "the world's most challenging sea-crossing project."
　　Artificial islands: largest engineering volume and highest technical difficulty
　　The main project of the bridge-island-tunnel cluster is the largest in engineering volume and highest in technical difficulty for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The contractor was the first in the world to propose the deep-inserted steel cylinder rapid island formation technology, using 120 giant steel cylinders directly fixed on the seabed and inserted into the seafloor, then filling soil in between to form artificial islands. Each steel cylinder has a diameter of 22.5 meters, almost as large as a basketball court, a height of 55 meters, equivalent to an 18-story building, and a weight of 550 tons, equivalent to an Airbus A380.
　　A series of new processes and new equipment research and development applications completed the construction of two artificial islands in just over half a year, creating a world engineering miracle.
　　Immersed tunnel: longest, deepest buried, watertight
　　The main body of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge adopts the "bridge-island-tunnel" scheme. The main bridge was connected on September 27 last year, and the island-tunnel project to be connected on July 7 is the core control project of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, including two artificial islands of 100,000 square meters each and a 6.7-kilometer undersea immersed tunnel. It is the first offshore immersed tunnel in China and the longest, deepest buried, and most technically challenging immersed tunnel in the world today.
　　The undersea immersed tunnel of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is about 6.7 kilometers long, with the deepest point at 48 meters below the seabed. The tunnel is composed of 33 prefabricated immersed tubes and a "final joint" about 12 meters long and weighing 6,500 tons. Each standard tube of the 33 immersed tubes is 180 meters long, with a maximum displacement of 80,000 tons. Just one standard tube has a displacement larger than a giant aircraft carrier.
　　From the floating and installation of the first E1 immersed tube on May 2, 2013, to the installation of the final joint on May 2, 2017, 34 "deep sea kisses" took the bridge builders a full four years; they created the Chinese speed of "ten tubes a year," "continuous installation of two immersed tubes within half a month," "millimeter-level deviation of the final joint," and other shocking world records.
　　If the island-tunnel project is an unattainable crown in the field of construction engineering, then the undersea tunnel is a "pearl" on the crown. How to build an undersea tunnel in a deep-sea channel area?
　　After research and development, engineers achieved a "watertight" undersea tunnel for the first time, and in the design and construction of the island-tunnel project, more than 400 invention patents and utility model patents were formed.
　　Bridge body: longest service life, strong disaster resistance
　　In addition, this sea "dragon" that foreign engineers exclaimed has engineering difficulty "approaching the technical limit" can withstand Category 16 typhoons and magnitude 8 earthquakes, and its design service life is as long as 120 years, exceeding the general design service life of 20 years for sea-crossing bridges in the world today. These numbers also make the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge many firsts in the history of world bridge construction.
　　Over 40 meters under the sea, mobile phone calls are unobstructed
　　Is breathing smooth when driving more than 40 meters under the sea? How to escape and seek help in case of danger? These have been considered by those involved and the construction personnel—
　　If an accident occurs on the bridge deck, rescue can be within 5 to 7 minutes
　　The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is designed for a speed of 100 kilometers per hour with six lanes in both directions. After the bridge is completed and open to traffic, if starting from the Zhuhai direction, drive onto the bridge from the Zhuhai-Macao Port Artificial Island, travel 22.9 kilometers to the west artificial island, slowly enter the undersea tunnel from that artificial island, then exit from the east artificial island and drive onto the Hong Kong section of the bridge.
　　To ensure driving safety in the tunnel, the tunnel is divided into left and right traffic tubes, with a service gallery in the middle. The three are sealed and independent of each other, without interference. Wang Qiang, deputy chief engineer of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Tunnel Project Department, introduced that the tunnel's greatest function is to control risks and facilitate escape and rescue. After the bridge is completed, management personnel will set up a maritime rescue platform on the artificial island. If an accident occurs in the undersea tunnel, rescue forces can arrive within 3 minutes; if an accident occurs on the bridge deck, they can also arrive within 5 to 7 minutes.
　　Smooth breathing under the sea, normal mobile phone calls
　　When driving in the 6.7-kilometer undersea tunnel more than 40 meters deep, do drivers and passengers feel uncomfortable? Can they make calls in an emergency? This may be one of the issues everyone cares about most after the bridge is open to traffic.
　　According to reports, the two traffic tubes of the immersed tunnel have air circulation directions according to the traffic flow, delivered by multiple sets of large suspended jet fans on the top of the tunnel. The fans can both draw in air from outside the tunnel and exhaust vehicle emissions from inside.
　　As for the guarantee of network communication signals, the installation of communication pipelines has begun in the pipeline channel of the middle service gallery. Because the pipeline installation is not yet complete, mobile phone signals still cannot be received in the tunnel. But before the bridge opens, communication operators will install communication cables in the service gallery, and this problem will be solved. Even if the driver forgets to carry a mobile phone and needs help in an emergency, they can get out of the car at any time and use the one-button emergency help device set on the inner wall of the tunnel.
　　A bridge flies across three places, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area enters the bridge era. "The wheel's momentum follows the sky's measure, the bridge shape crosses the sea"—the ancient poem has now become reality.
　　Witness the connectivity of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge together!