CTVNEWS

China opens world's longest sea bridge in Jiaozhou Bay

The Associated Press Published Thursday, June 30, 2011 9:18AM EDT

This photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2011 released by China's Xinhua news agency shows the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Yan Runbo)

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BEIJING - China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 42 kilometres long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 35 metre-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion).

CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The bridge supported by more than 5,000 pillars was built in four years.

Guinness World Records says the previous record holder for a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The Chinese bridge is more than 4 kilometres longer.