Millau Viaduct In France

Is China's bridge really the longest in the world?

China's Qingdao bridge opened to the public yesterday after four years of construction.

The bridge is over 26 miles long and carries its eight lanes of traffic over the Qingdao bay. Motorists will be able to travel from downtown Qingdao to the Huangdao city centre in about 20 minutes, saving themselves a 40-minute journey around the bay's edge.

The fact that it crosses over the bay means that it has been entered into the Guinness World Records as the longest bridge over water, which according to the Guinness World Records team means it is "2.53 miles longer than the former record holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana".

However the general manager of the Causeway in Louisiana is not going to relinquish this title without a fight and said that the Chinese bridge team were "a bunch of wannabees".

Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou said his bridge, built in the 1950s and traversing the Lake Pontchartrain in a straight 24-mile line, deserves to hold on to the title.

Dufrechou told Channel 4 News that while he agreed the Qingdao bridge is a "magnificent bridge", he believes the 54-year-old Causeway bridge still holds the record by eight miles.

Terminology appears to be at the heart of the dispute. Dufrechou maintains that because the Qingdao bridge is curved, it is using part of that curvature over the water to add to its length of 26 miles.

If you were to measure the distance from the start of the bridge to the end of the bridge as the crow flies, it would only measure a distance of 16 miles over the water, he argues. His bridge by comparison is a straight 24 miles from end to end over the water (you can see the Causeway on the map below).

However the Guinness World Records has come down on the side of the Chinese. Its editor-in-chief Craig Glenday says their title, for the Longest Bridge over Water, "recognises an incredible feat of engineering." and explains how they award it:

"It is calculated by the actual length of the bridge and not the size of the body of water it covers or the distance between two land masses that it spans."

Defrechou seemed undeterred by the Guinness World Records response. "I understand that measurement," he said, "but we believe the open span over the water is the proper measurement - we're proud of that record and we think we still hold that."

Chinese bridge-building has been making waves recently with the sheer speed and scale of its construction.

Millau Viaduct - World's Tallest Bridge in France , Nice n Funny

Located in Southern France, the Millau Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world. Constructed in three short years, the bridge is an engineering and architectural marvel. At its highest point, the bridge soars 343 meters (1,125 ft) above ground, that’s 19 meters (62 ft) taller than the Eiffer Tower! Check out the incredible photographs below along with a timeline of the project’s major milestones and notable records and figures. 1996: following a call for tender, the solution designed by Michel Virlogeux, head engineer at the Ponts et Chaussées, drawn by Sir Norman Foster, architect, was selected. A multi-stay cabled construction will be seen on the Aveyron skyline. Its aesthetic aspect and integration into the countryside attracted the government departments. It took preference over four other potential projects: a bridge of constant thickness, a variable thickness bridge, a viaduct with stays stretched under the deck and a construction with one single arch. By spring 2002, the first piers of the Millau viaduct were rising skywards. At the same time, the anchorage points of the deck (the abutments) were appearing in the causses. A few weeks were all it took to carry out the earthworks. Twelve months after the work began, the pier “P2″ went above 100 m. A year later, on 9 December 2003, the concrete work was completed on time! And what’s more, the record for the tallest pier in the world was set at 245 m. Assembling the steel deck began in the summer of 2002. Two open-air sites were set up just behind the abutments. On 25 March 2003, a first section of deck (171 m) was driven out into open space: this rolling out operation was a success. 17 others followed suit, at an average rate of one rolling out every four weeks. On 28 May 2004, at 14:12 exactly, the junction – or “clavage” – of the north and south sections of the deck took place 270 m above the Tarn. Mission accomplished ! On 29 May 2004, 24 hours after the junction, the installation of the pylons began, followed by the placing of 154 stays to support the deck. In three months, it was all completed. At the end of September 2004, the surface was laid on the deck. The road surface (paint, safety devices, etc.

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