Work on the Jiaozhou Bay bridge began in 2008 with two teams constructing the bridge from opposite ends. Engineers used computer modeling to map out how the bridge would connect with the utmost precision. Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, estimates the bridge’s total cost at $2.3 billion dollars. So if the calculations were a bit off, you’d have on your hands some very costly errors. “The computer models and calculations are all very well but you can’t really relax until the two sides are bolted together,” said one engineer, “Even a few centimeters out would have been a disaster.”
There were also some safety concerns but Chinese officials reassured the public that the bridge is sturdy enough to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8, typhoons and ships that might crash into the pillars carrying a force of 300,000 tons. However, management representing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, the previous record holder, isn’t relinquishing its spot in the Guinness Book of World Records that easily