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I am in Cixi, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, to attend a media and advertisement conference of Pudong District. A conference organized by Administration of Industry and Commercial. To be fair, the government doing real business is wonderful, and I enjoy the conversation with them, and they did great job! I have to give my full acknowledgment to them.
OK. Then I get back to my main topic. We used the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, as I promised, I will post picture of the bridge on my site when I visit it personally.
Hangzhou Bay Bridge is ..... hmmm.... Just a Bridge
I had high expectation for this bridge, but my own experience told me, no matter how significant the position of the bridge it, it is still, just a bridge, a longer bridge. I mean, on the bridge, you just feel it is a normal highway, and there is no significant spot of interest there.
Below is the only thing attracted my attention during the 20 minute tour:
It is still under construction. It should be an emergency helicopter parking lot.
Obviously, the opening of the bridge is a very big thing for cities on the south side of the bridge, a much bigger news than it is to Shanghai.
In Cixi, you can see this image everywhere:
On the bill board writes: "Bridge promotes Opening Up, and Reform Makes Stronger Cixi".
My Impression
A bridge did change the fate of many cities, like Cixi and Ningbo a lot, and it also changes the life of people on the south side of the bridge, as well as on people on the north side. I am very confident that mega projects like this will push the economy of China foreword.
For example, in the area of the Cixi new district. I see many buildings are under construction. Without the bridge, there is no point that we come to this city for a meeting, or they build so many office buildings and hotels.
Hope you like the photos of the bridge. I am sorry that I was not able to show you a bird view of the 30+ km bridge, since I took bus instead of plane anyway. From a bus rider's experience, it is nothing more interesting than a longer bridge. Really!
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at June 6, 2008 12:08 AM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer
and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20080606_hangzhou_bay_bridge_just_a_bridge.htm
Jianshuo,
I think this bridge is more strategic to Ningbo (Zhejiang) than to Shanghai, because Ningbo is trying to steal more port/warehousing business from Shanghai. This bridge cut transportation time and fuel cost in a meaningful way for customers using Ningbo port.
From Engineering point of view, I think this is still significant. I remember before this bridge, the bridges in Keywest (Florida, the scene of movie True Lies) are the longest sea span bridges. Although I have not driven on that either.
Posted by: STLPlace (external link) on June 6, 2008 12:33 AMI agree with you on the point that it is more significant to Ningbo. However, the connection of two powerful cities can hardly be beneficial for only one side. By combining the power of Yangshan Port and Beilun Port in Ningbo, I believe the whole Yangtze Delta area is more competitive in the international trade environment, although it introduces more competition between the two ports.
Is that the new long brig in China? If so, it is really amazing
Posted by: Gman (external link) on June 6, 2008 5:57 AM@Gman, yes. It is now the longest cross sea bridge in the world.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on June 6, 2008 8:55 AMmore pictures of the bridge can be seen on www.ningboguide.com or www.helloningbo.com
whiles its of huge significance to both sides of the bridge, for sure its been a big news item on the southern side. it should be noted though, that the two ports intend to co-operate rather than compete, and there has been some headway in that regard. beiluns port (35km southeast of ningbo city) is the largest natural deep water port in china and can take the largest container vessel that plies the worlds oceans the Emma MEARSK. whereas yangshan port has to be dredged to allow it receive some of the larger vessels.
the development seen in this part of zhejiang is not as a simple result of the bridges construction itself, but is a consequence of multiple factors, highly influenced by the port operations and the dramatic upsurge in manufacturing by both domestic and foreign enterprises that have taken up position in Zhejiang, significantly around the ningbo region, that has taken place within this part of zhejiang.
the bridge has shaved more than an hour from the journey, and not added to much in the way of toll fees between here and there. environmentally its had a significant impact however.
such is progress TIC!
the area still under construction midway on the bridge as shown in the photos Jian posted, is actually a layby area, fuel, food, rest etc.
Posted by: Denis on June 6, 2008 1:24 PMI want to try the new bridge from Shanghai to Ningbo and want to know how much a car and driver will cost to do this one way. Are there regular tourist buses as an alternative? I'll have a fair bit of baggage since I am going for business. Keen to avoid 4plus hours on a train!