Celebrity catwalk challenge shines light on bay area's landmark crossing

A challenge on the world's highest sea catwalk was completed on Sunday at the Lingdingyang Bridge, a new landmark in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Eight internet celebrities and bloggers took part in the three-hour challenge, walking along a 1,700-meter catwalk up to 270 meters high, with the event going viral on Chinese and overseas social media.

The catwalk, a platform for the operation of the upper structure of the Lingdingyang Bridge, is a temporary access route under the main cable and parallel to the main cable erected during construction of the suspension bridge.

"Without the trip on the catwalk, we would never have felt how hard construction workers work at such a high altitude," said an extreme sports blogger named Tiedou.

"We are proud of the greatness of China's infrastructure construction, and we are greatly impressed by the craftsman's spirit of meticulously carving without fear of difficulties," he said.

The catwalk was completed in late April, marking the completion of the bridge's aerial construction channel, and will finish its mission when construction of the two main cables of the Lingdingyang Bridge is completed.

On the catwalk, usually called a "high-altitude scaffold", construction workers will complete a series of procedures including cable strand traction, cable tightening, cable clamp installation, sling installation, main cable winding and subsequent steel box girder hoisting.

Although it is temporary, the catwalk is designed to resist super typhoons, according to China Communications Construction, which is responsible for construction of the bridge.

The total number of steel wires for the main cables of the bridge will exceed 50,000 and the total length can circle the earth nearly four times.

After completion of the bridge, the maximum cable force of the two main cables will reach more than 100,000 metric tons, which is equivalent to the strength of 20,000 adult elephants, according to the China Communications Construction.

The Lingdingyang Bridge, the world's largest offshore steel box girder suspension bridge, is part of the critical projects of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a super sea-crossing project integrating "bridge, islands, tunnels and underwater channels".

The total length of the link, with an investment of about 44.7 billion yuan ($6.68 billion), will be 24 kilometers long and will open to traffic in 2024. It will cut commuting time between Zhongshan and Shenzhen from two hours to 30 minutes, according to the construction company.

Upon completion, the link will improve transportation in the area and be an important piece of infrastructure in the GBA, which covers the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and nine cities in Guangdong province.