In the 80s of the 20th century, experts suggested that Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao should be connected to build an economic bridge.
On December 15, 2009, the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge officially started.
On October 24, 2018, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was put into operation.
With a total length of 55 kilometers and a two-way six-lane highway with a speed of 100 km/h, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is a bridge and tunnel project connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao.
The construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is due to the need to connect Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau, and the strengthening of the connection between the three places can promote more stable economic development, but what about the Qiongzhou Strait?
From a geographical point of view, between the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island in Guangdong Province, China, the Guangdong Railway Ferry carries about 3,600 passenger trains and 1,900 freight cars every year, with more than 3 million passengers and more than 700,000 cars.
It is not difficult to see from the above data that there is frequent traffic between Guangdong and Hainan, and the narrowest part of the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan is only 19.4 kilometers.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is 55 kilometers long, connecting three places, and the narrowest part of the Qiongzhou Strait is 19.4 kilometers, if you build a "Qiongzhou Bridge", it only takes more than 10 minutes to easily cross the entire strait, and this plan was proposed as early as the 70s of the 20th century, but after many twists and turns, until now the construction has not started, why is this happening? The main reasons are as follows:
1. The Qiongzhou Strait is in a seismic zone
After further research, it was found that the Qiongzhou Strait is located in the south of the Leiqiong fault area, and it is easy to encounter earthquakes, and the earthquake is unpredictable and random, and it is impossible to know in advance, nor do you know the level of the earthquake, so there will be such a possibility, repaired, but unfortunately encountered an earthquake, in addition to the collapse of the Qiongzhou Bridge, it is difficult for people driving vehicles on the bridge to survive.
For example, Japan's economy is developed, why they don't lay underground cables, and are still using old power poles, one of the reasons is that earthquakes will cause the ground to collapse, and underground cables are not easy to repair, and the same is true for building bridges near the Leiqiong fault area.
2. The seabed soil is loose and has a thick mud deposit
The shape of the bottom of the Qiongzhou Strait is almost like a jagged shape, the surface is a thick layer of weathered clay, the soil is relatively loose, it is not easy to find a suitable position of the bridge pier, coupled with the curved and steep submarine terrain, the site selection of the bridge pier is even more difficult, and the depth of the bridge pier should be deeper, until the hard rock layer can be hit, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of the construction.
3. Frequently hit by typhoons
The Qiongzhou Strait belongs to the tropical monsoon climate, and the rainfall soars in May ~ October every year, and there are many thunderstorms.
The Qiongzhou Strait basically suffers from 3~4 typhoons every year, each time lasting more than 7 days, some of the typhoons are destructive, such as the super typhoon "Rammasun" landed in Hainan in 2014, when the highest wind in the Qiongzhou Strait area was 16~17, the wind swept up huge waves, coupled with the help of strong winds in the northwest and northeast, the bad weather in the Qiongzhou Strait has far exceeded ordinary people's cognition.
Although the typhoon can be predicted, it will greatly hinder the construction process, and even the construction will have an impact, even after the construction is completed, in addition to the typhoon, the average number of days with wind strength exceeding level 6 in the Qiongzhou Strait is about 170 days, so the wind and waves in this area have been very large, and the safety of vehicles has to be considered.
4. The Qiongzhou Strait is busy
In addition to being a shipping route between the mainland and Hainan Islands, the Qiongzhou Strait is also a maritime corridor between the Beibu Gulf and the central and eastern parts of the South China Sea, involving maritime traffic from Guangzhou and Zhanjiang to Hainan, Guangxi and Vietnam.
That is to say, if you want to build the Qiongzhou Bridge, the premise is not to affect the original shipping function of the Qiongzhou Strait, the average depth of the strait is about 90 meters, the height of the bridge tunnel should be at least more than 40 meters, and then consider the soft soil layer of the seabed, the average height of the bridge pier should be at least more than 140 meters, and the difficulty of such engineering construction is already very high.
5. Other reasons
Some experts estimate that if a 19.4-kilometer Qiongzhou Bridge is built, it will cost at least more than 1,400 yuan in addition to being very difficult, while the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will have a total investment of 126.9 billion yuan.
Who will come with the funds and how much will be paid will have to be carefully discussed, although the plan to build the cross-sea bridge has been proposed for a long time, but it has not yet been finalized.