The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, which runs across the estuary of the Pearl River, begins trial operation at 3 pm today (June 30). Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent a congratulatory letter, saying the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is another large-scale transportation project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, following the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The project overcame multiple world-class technical challenges and set numerous world records.

"This fully illustrates that Chinese modernization can only be achieved through solid work, as all great causes are accomplished through concrete actions," he said.

Spanning 24 km, the ShenZhong Link cuts travel time between the city of Zhongshan and the technology hub of Shenzhen -- situated on opposite sides of the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong Province -- from two hours to approximately 30 minutes.

Spanning 1666 meters, it's the world's longest-span offshore steel box girder suspension bridge on the sea.

Also, it's the world's highest bridge deck and navigable clearance for suspension bridges on the sea, the world's largest anchorage suspension bridges on the sea, the world's highest flutter test wind speed for suspension bridges, and the world's largest volume of steel bridge deck hot-mix epoxy asphalt pavement.

The link is also the world's longest submarine steel sandwich-immersed tunnel, spanning over 5,035 meters long with 32 tubes and one final joint.

It's the world's widest undersea steel sandwich-immersed tunnel, with a width of 46 meters and 55.6 meters at the widest.

It's the world's largest self-compacting concrete pouring volume for sandwich structures, the world's first underwater expressway hub interchange-airport interchange, and the world's widest repeatable folding M-type water stop applied to the final joint of the immersed tube.

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