Detour Pit Stop #28: Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, China
The world's longest road link across open sea joins Hong Kong to Macau.
The HZBM (Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau) is actually a series of three bridges and a tunnel that spans 34 miles, built at an estimated cost of 127 billion yuan (£14bn/$18bn).
Drivers leave Hong Kong on a bridge to the first of two artificial islands. They then drop into a tunnel beneath the Zhujiang River estuary before popping up on to a second island to join the main bridge – a massive 14-miles in length. Arriving on the mainland drivers pass through the Boundary Crossing Facilities and enter Zhuhai, before continuing to Macau.
To further convolute the journey, drivers in Hong Kong and Macau drive on the left hand side of the road, whilst mainland China drives on the right. The whole of the crossing is driven on the right but there are crossing viaducts at each end to allow the switchover for Macau and Hong Kong.
Just 10,000 permits have been issued to drive across the bridge but there is a 24-hour bus service for the 40-minute crossing, so you may have to settle for a ride rather than driving it yourself.
And, as if the whole exercise wasn’t already complicated enough, Feng Shui experts believe that the two man-made islands were deliberately shaped like snake heads to negatively influence Hong Kong’s Feng Shui!
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Macau Photo Agency / Unsplash