Longest Bridge in China/World Already Has Problems (Ref: Timbuk)

[Dreadnaught]

Things like this are why I don't really "fear" China a whole lot.

T-Bone posted this a few days ago-

http://www.theworldforgotten.com/sho...ll=1#post85153

But already there are stupid problems indicating it's a rush job:

World's Longest Bridge Center of Safety Fears

2011-07-05 07:47:16 Shanghai Daily

Safety fears have been raised over the newly opened cross-sea bridge, the world's longest, that links Qingdao City in east China to the island of Huangdao.

There is concern that the tight schedule ahead of the official opening left important work undone or incomplete.

Several gaps were found in the crash barriers on the 42.5 kilometer Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, while bolts inserted to fasten the barriers were found to be loose or uncovered, China Central Television reported Monday.

CCTV said that workers were tightening bolts that could easily have been loosened by hand on the bridge, which has seen nearly 18,000 cars cross it every day since it was officially opened on June 30, on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

A worker said they didn't have enough time to install all the safety barriers and to fix the bolts before the bridge's opening.

Workers had also to finish installing the bridge's lighting system, which was not in place yet, another man, believed to be in charge of work at the bridge, told CCTV.

"We have just started installing support facilities on the bridge and it will take two to three months to finish the work," he said.

When the Shandong provincial government announced the opening of the 14.8 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) bridge, it said the structure, built to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, could take up to 50,000 cars at day, cutting the drive time between the two destinations from 40 to 20 minutes.

But many motorists expressed fears over safety given the high speed of traffic on the bridge and the potential dangers if crash barriers were not fully in place.

The man believed to be charge of the work said safety would not be affected by the loose bolts or the absence of barriers, but wouldn't say whether a too tight schedule was behind the bridge still being unfinished after its opening.

An official surnamed Cui with the bridge's investor, Shandong High-speed Group Co, said some barriers and bolts had been removed by workers to adjust wiring, which was normal practice after a bridge opened to traffic, Jiaodong.net reported Monday. Cui said the adjustments would be done by the end of this month with all bolts and barriers in place.

Workers toiled for four and a half years to build the bridge, which took the "world's longest" title from the 38.35 kilometer Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the United States.

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2011/07/05/2021s646303.htm

[earthJoker]

Well this one is for more embarrassing IMO.

China group sees collapse of Poland ambitions

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d17dda5a-9...#ixzz1RIvfyWiK

A high-profile attempt by China to break into the European transport infrastructure market has turned into a fiasco after Poland cancelled a controversial highway contract with a Chinese company midway through construction.

China Overseas Engineering Group (Covec) was awarded the contract to build a 50km stretch of the crucial highway between Warsaw and the German border in 2009, after presenting a bid so low that rivals took allegations of price dumping to Warsaw and Brussels.

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d17dda5a-9...#ixzz1RIw9m6IH

It was the first Chinese company to win such a large European highway contract and had hoped to use the project as a calling card to gain other business in the region.

However, the company – a subsidiary of China Railway Group, one of Asia's largest construction and engineering companies – quickly ran into financial difficulties once construction got under way and halted work in May. Poland’s road building authority cancelled the contract on Monday.

The collapse of the contract is an embarrassment for Donald Tusk, Polish prime minister. Mr Tusk had pledged to complete the highway before next summer’s European soccer championships, which Poland is co-hosting with Ukraine.

Opposition parties have seized the opportunity to attack the prime minister with relish, hoping to dent his popularity before this autumn's parliamentary elections.

Covec won the contract after presenting an extremely low bid, coming in at less than 50 per cent of the 2.8bn zlotys ($1bn) budgeted by the government. The bid prompted complaints from rivals, who said the Chinese were price dumping because it was impossible to build so cheaply.

Germany’s Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, an industry body, had alleged last year that state-owned Chinese companies were securing contracts in the region “via price-dumping, aggressive financing and generous risk-guarantees”.

Warsaw and Brussels rejected the highway objections. However, in the event Covec quickly ran into financial difficulties, delaying payments to subcontractors and claiming the road building authority was itself late paying. The agency denies the claim.

Covec recently tried to renegotiate the contract, saying raw materials were unexpectedly expensive and that it had been unfairly treated. But the government rejected the move, saying it could open the way for similar negotiations from companies building hundreds of kilometres of roads around the country.

Covec on Monday issued a statement saying it was ready to resume work, but at a cost. However, speaking on local television, Andrzej Majewski, deputy director of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, said: “One has to finish the contract which was agreed, for the price that was agreed, with the conditions that have been described.”

The agency is demanding 741m zlotys in damages from Covec, and is in talks with 16 companies with a view to restarting construction by the end of July.

The government is now aiming for the road to be “drivable” rather than complete in time for the soccer tournament’s opening match in Warsaw in June 2012. “Drivable means safe,” said Cezary Grabarczyk, the embattled infrastructure minister. “Work will be continuing on embankments.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d17dda5a-9...#axzz1RIvI13x1

[Ziggy Stardust]

Things like this are why I don't really "fear" China a whole lot.

Odd use of the word "fear".

But you're right. Things like this would never have happened in America.

[wiggin]

Odd use of the word "fear".

But you're right. Things like this would never have happened in America.

I assume that was intended as sarcasm, and you have a point. There are plenty of large infrastructure projects in the US that are political boondoggles, and budget constraints can sometimes result in lower quality results than were mandated in the original contract.

That being said, I think there is one difference between this project and major infrastructure projects in the US. It seems this bridge was rushed to completion for purely political/propaganda purposes (some communist party thing). To my knowledge, infrastructure-related projects in the US have to do with politics by being over/under budget and with how they help/hurt the local economy and environment. But they aren't rushed into shoddy completion because we want it to be open for Abe Lincoln's birthday celebrations or whatever.

[EyeKhan]

It appears like they rushed opening it without the described finishing touches to get the bridge operational before the anniversary. That's not the same as doing an awful job because you're China, you're too Communist at heart to know when a project like this is necessary, and too incompetant at engineering and safety to do it correctly. Why has this community been cheering for China's failure for so long? Is it because Commies are bad? Some other reason? Strange.

[Dreadnaught]

Wiggin beat me to it.

And for Chacha, I'm also considering the recent context of China's vaunted high-speed rail project turning out to be a morass of corruption and actual speed underperformance.

What I'm trying to say here is people need to stop A) Fearing China and B) Looking to China and the "Beijing consensus" as a model to be emulated.

I'm just sick of the Tom Friedmans of the world having wet dreams about Chinese infrastructure when so much of it is beginning to look eerily like our housing bubble. Not to mention their housing bubble.

[EyeKhan]

Wiggin beat me to it.

And for Chacha, I'm also considering the recent context of China's vaunted high-speed rail project turning out to be a morass of corruption and actual speed underperformance.

Chacha? Really?

I just read an article in the Economist about the high speed rail line between Bejing and Shanghai, which is the center piece of a system they're building throughout the country. Originially the route was advertised, and presumably designed, to go 350km per hour which would have cut the trip by more than half - over 8 hours down to less than 4. They have only been running it at 300km per hour, making the trip just about half the drive time. At first they claimed they were trying to save energy but they recently said the lower limit is due to safety concerns. Apparently the line stops at the Shanghai airport instead of the city center, which was another criticism. If you have to drive from the airport into the city anyway, then why not fly? That sort of thing. As far as the morass of corruption, nothing was said, though the writer pooh-poohed the cost of that stretch of line. I'm sure they didn't try to bring it into the city because there's no way they could have built it in the 2 year time frame if they had to rip up half of Shanghai or tunnel under it. All in all, that seems like the major problem with that particular stretch of rail - they wanted to unveil it at the party's anniversary. Stupid, IMO. And AFAIK China has a major problem with corruption at the local level, though what I've read is that the central government is fairly decent. Not that that makes much difference if they don't iron out the local troubles.

What I'm trying to say here is people need to stop A) Fearing China and B) Looking to China and the "Beijing consensus" as a model to be emulated.

I'm not particularly afraid of China, but in the universe of geopolitics, I think it would be stupid not to fear them, at least enough to protect yourself from their growing power - which is real whether their speed train goes at 350 or 300 kmh and stops at the Shanghai airport or the city center. They're spending a lot of those iPod, Tinker Toy and DVD player profits on modernizing their military and building a blue water navy. And you can bet that space program of theirs isn't any more about national pride than the Apollo program was for the US. And really, what happens to China probably should be feared if the wet dreams are true or the eerie bubble is the truth - what happens to the rest of the world if China stumbles into economic chaos and the all but guaranteed ensuing social upheaval?

[wiggin]

I think the very important thing to realize is that China is definitely an economic power, but authoritarian management of an economy is not the best way to go. I'm not sure this example is the best proof of that, but I definitely agree that centrally managed economies - even with the weird mix of private and public that currently exists in China - are not ideal for a strong, vibrant economy. Even with all of this remarkable growth, China still doesn't even have a quarter the production per capita of the US.

This isn't to say that China's rise as a political, military, and economic power should be ignored - they're an important player and one we need to deal with - but it shouldn't lead us to the wrong conclusions.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I assume that was intended as sarcasm, and you have a point. There are plenty of large infrastructure projects in the US that are political boondoggles, and budget constraints can sometimes result in lower quality results than were mandated in the original contract.

That being said, I think there is one difference between this project and major infrastructure projects in the US. It seems this bridge was rushed to completion for purely political/propaganda purposes (some communist party thing). To my knowledge, infrastructure-related projects in the US have to do with politics by being over/under budget and with how they help/hurt the local economy and environment. But they aren't rushed into shoddy completion because we want it to be open for Abe Lincoln's birthday celebrations or whatever.

Well, you did specify "infrastructure". Otherwise

[Dreadnaught]

Sadly, more China infrastructure fail. This "lightning" excuse is either completely false, or indicative of serious design flaws.

At least 11 dead after trains collide in eastern China

(Reuters) - At least 11 people have died after two high-speed trains crashed into each other in China's eastern province of Zhejiang on Saturday causing two carriages to fall off a bridge, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Another 89 people have been sent to hospital, it added. Each carriage could carry about 100 people, Xinhua said.

The accident occurred after the first train was hit by lightning and lost power, and was then rear-ended by another bullet train, Xinhua added, citing provincial television.

Pictures on state television's main news channel showed one carriage on the ground under the bridge, with another hanging above it.

The government has spent billions of dollars boosting the railway network of the world's most populous country and has said it plans to spend $120 billion a year, over several years, on railway construction.

But the vast network has been hit by a series of scandals and safety incidents over the past few months. Three railway officials have been probed for corruption so far this year, according to local media reports.

In February, Liu Zhijun was sacked as railways minister for "serious disciplinary violations." He had spearheaded the investment drive into the rail sector over the last decade.

The flagship Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line that opened earlier this month has been plagued by power outages, leaving passengers stranded for hours on stuffy trains on at least three times since it was opened.

The Beijing-Shanghai link is the latest and most feted portion of a network the government hopes will stretch over 45,000 km (28,000 miles) by the end of 2015.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Jacqueline Wong and Jason Subler in Shanghai)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...76M26T20110723

[Ominous Gamer]

Thread title needs adjusted, its not considered simply the "longest" bridge anymore.

[Dreadnaught]

What is it?

[Ominous Gamer]

Longest bridge over water (aggregate)

We still hold the Longest bridge over water (continuous) claim.

[wiggin]

Longest bridge over water (aggregate)

We still hold the Longest bridge over water (continuous) claim.

Really? Is this a penis contest?

[Dreadnaught]

What do those distinctions actually mean? Like span of actual bridge versus ramps on pylons?

[Ominous Gamer]

Really? Is this a penis contest?

figured if Dread felt the need to selectively nitpick about how China isn't as big and bad as it may be, I would help a little.

What do those distinctions actually mean? Like span of actual bridge versus ramps on pylons?

This new bridge has a lot of bends and whatnot. It still has the longest distance of concrete, but the other category is for distance of water covered, which we still own by an insanely long distance (~8 miles).

[Dreadnaught]

Did you really have to be snotty and link to definitions of continuous and aggregate? I know what they mean. You could have just said, "We have bridges that cover larger bodies of water."

Snotty.

[Ominous Gamer]

Now you start seeing links?

[Dreadnaught]

Snotty. Poor form.

[Ominous Gamer]

meh. All I'm seeing is googlefu jealousy

[Ziggy Stardust]

Elitist

[Veldan Rath]

Really? Is this a penis contest?

OOoooooooOOOO....can I be the judge?

[Dreadnaught]

Is the point in the thread where it devolves to pictures of naked Asian dudes concealed behind the spoiler tag?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Do you want it to be?

asian dude:

I no go there. But you went here. Hmmm

[Veldan Rath]

Icky Ziggy...

this is much better.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Ah, you're into the bohemian wannabee charade. Look at my carefully crafted nonchalant facial fungus.

Spoiler:

Looks an awful lot like my facial fungus, without the careful crafting.

Nice watch though.

[Veldan Rath]

Well, not really, but it was the best pic I could find on shot notice...but, I would NOT kick that outta bed for eating crackers...

[Ziggy Stardust]

Damn skippy. And for breaking in as well.

[Veldan Rath]

Whoops...see edit.

[GGT]

Nice looking guy, but he needs some Chapstick pretty bad