34 miles across the water: NPR

A new bridge in southern China will reduce the journey between Hong Kong and Zhuhai by more than two hours on the mainland. The result of almost nine years of construction, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Project even includes a 34-mile tunnel across the Pearl River Delta.

When it officially opens its doors on Wednesday morning, the bridge will carry six lanes of traffic and the drivers will have the new impression of appearing to dive underwater in two places, where artificial islands have been created to allow the opening of a four-mile tunnel.

It is called the longest sea bridge in the world. Estimates of its final cost are up to $ 20 billion.

Construction of the project began in December 2009; since then he has suffered several delays, accidents and budget overruns. The deadlines for the opening of the bridge have been postponed in 2016 and 2017.

The bridge is considered a way to avoid hours of traffic along the coast of the Great Bay region. And its planners hope this new connection will strengthen economic ties in a region including Hong Kong, Macao and cities in Guangdong Province.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the region has "more people than the UK, three of the largest container ports in the world and a GDP higher than that of Australia".

This economic activity and this infrastructure is the main reason why the project designers chose to take the roadway under water. They sought to solve two important complications.

"Part of the bridge is crossing two of Guangzhou's shipping lanes," said Li Jiang, HKZM Bridge Authority project manager, according to Xinhua. "If we had to build a bridge over those tracks, it should be very wide and high."

But these shipping lanes also pass by the Hong Kong International Airport – and the height of the bridge could have been a threat to security in that area. Officials also promised to protect Chinese white dolphins living in the delta.

The finished product contains "enough steel to build 60 Eiffel towers and concrete to build 22 Chrysler buildings," Xinhua reported, adding that the structure is built to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.

Along with the structure itself, the bridge has introduced a number of border complications as it connects Hong Kong and Macao – which are autonomous special administrative regions – to Zhuhai City on the Chinese mainland.

In order to use the bridge, private cars will need special permits that have been tightly controlled, the South China Morning Post announced. The newspaper also reports that the prices of vehicles using the bridge will be between 60 yuan (about $ 8.50) and 300 yuan (about $ 43).

Chinese media reports that the bridge is built to last more than a century.

Although the bridge seems to inspire real enthusiasm among transport and transportation companies, the people of Hong Kong have mixed feelings about it. Many are questioning the utility of this bridge and fear that the Chinese central government will not use it as an additional way to undermine Hong Kong's independence, as reported by CityLab.