Double MEGA-Bridges | China's Future MEGAPROJECTS: Part 8

Hong Kong and Shenzhen are each racing to finish multi-billion dollar mega-bridges across the Pearl River Delta to take advantage of inexpensive land and labor costs on the western side.
Subscribe to TDC for more videos like this:
https://www.youtube.com/TheDailyConve...
More information on these megabridges:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142...
Like our page on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/thedailyconve...
Join us on Google+
https://plus.google.com/1001349258045...
Follow us on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/thedailyconvo

Music:
"Electro Sketch"
Electro Sketch by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=electro+sketch&Search=Search
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
"Dream" - Elka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja0C7bQJKAE
"Ambitions" - Glimpse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGm5ebWrC_s

The final megaproject featured in our series
perfectly highlights both China’s ongoing

struggle to maintain its unprecedented growth,
and the unbelievable ambition

that’s fueling its rise.

A constant challenge for most big cities is
that there’s only so much land to build

on. For Hong Kong and Shenzhen - two neighboring
metropolises with a total population of nearly

20 million - the boundary it’s running into
is water. Specifically, the Pearl River Delta,

which separates the uber-populated eastern
corridor from the far lesser populated cities

of Macau and Zhuhai on its western shore.

Today, to get to Macau (Ma-Cow) after landing
at Hong Kong International airport, you are

faced with either a four hour drive around
the mouth of the delta, or a long ferry ride

through frequently rough waters.

But that’s about to change, thanks to a
$17 billion six-lane, multi-part bridge that

will cut the trip down to a 45 minute drive.

It is an incredibly complex project, and includes
cost and construction sharing agreements between

mainland China and its special administrative
regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Inspired by both the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
in the US and the Øresund Bridge that connects

Denmark and Sweden, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau
bridge will not only have to withstand typhoons,

but to avoid cutting off one of the world’s
busiest shipping routes into Hong Kong and

its unusually deep natural harbor it will
plunge underwater as a tunnel. And at 28km,

its longest stretch will be as if 15 Golden
Gate bridges were lined up end-to-end-to-end-to-end.

And that’s not even the craziest part. Because
Shenzhen doesn’t want to be left out, it

too will build a megabridge across the delta
just a few miles to the north.

Basically, the region is booming so fast,
and competition to tap into the cheaper land

and labor available on the western side is
so great, that Shenzhen and Hong Kong have

both committed to building multi-billion dollar
megabridges, and will essentially race to

see who finishes theirs first.

As you can see from a close look at the map,
cities with populations totaling more than

40 million people surrounding the delta, thus
revealing the master plan: to lay the foundation

for China’s second megalopolis, an urban
area that could eventually exceed 100 million

residents.

We started this video with Jing-Jin-Ji, and
we’re ending it with what I’m calling

Hong-Guang-Zhong. Two megalopolises, each
serving as perfect bookends to our story of

China, a country that is counting on infrastructure
megaprojects like those we’re profiled to

serve as the foundation for its rapid urbanization.
But how well it manages that urbanization

will largely define whether it continues its
ambitious rise for the rest of the 21st century.

Thanks for watching. And please hit that like
button to share this topic of conversation

with your friends and followers if you found
it as interesting as I did, and subscribe

if you haven’t yet to this channel. Until
next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.