Tsing Ma Bridge is one of the major attractions in Hong Kong. Spanning across the Ma Wan Channel, the bridge extends to a length of 22,000 meters and the clear span is 1,377 meters. It is the sixth longest bridge and is one of the most famous suspension bridges in the world. The bridge has the capacity of carrying both road as well as rail traffic. There are two decks that are operational in the bridge.
The Tsing Ma Bridge connects several places in Hong Kong. The Ma Wan Island is connected to the Tsing Yi Island via this bridge. Lantau as well as New Territories in Hong Kong are connected by Tsing Ma Bridge. Mott Mac Donald is the man behind the designing of this bridge and Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge is the contractor creditable for the construction of the grand structure. The entire bridge was completed in the year 1997 and incurred an expense of about $7.15 billion. The most advanced scientific and technological skills have been implemented in the construction of the bridge.
Motor traffic on the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong is at the top and operates on six lanes. There are also emergency lanes on the bridge apart from the two rail tracks. These are specially constructed for security purposes during the times of typhoons or strong winds. Five components were absolutely essential for the construction of this bridge. These were as follows:
- The foundation of the bridge is based on two towers,one located on the coast of Ma Wan
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Island and the other on the Tsing Yi side. The towers are designed in the form of beams and are at an altitude of 206 meters above sea level. The bedrock, on which, these foundations are laid is relatively shallow.
- The suspended deck is the most attractive feature of this bridge. The entire steelwork designing and construction was carried out in Japan and United Kingdom. These were then assembled in China into deck modules. About 96 modules were prepared, and were so heavy that they had to be raised with the help of barges and jack gantries.
- The anchorages in the bridge need a special mention. The heavy and large anchorages are placed at the two ends of the bridge and help in maintaining the pulling force. Mainly made of concrete, these anchorages weigh almost 300,000 tons.
- There is an approach span that comes from the Tsing Yi side. In this bridge the support was provided by piers instead of cables. Large as well as small cranes were used to raise the spans to the decks.
- Last but not the least is the main cables, which were constructed by an aerial spinning technique. The high tensile wires had to be pulled from one anchorage to the other. High quality metallic wires were used in the bridge.
There are parking prohibitions on the Tsing Ma Bridge of Hong Kong.
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