Macau Bridge, the city’s fourth sea-crossing connecting the Macau peninsula and Taipa island, will open to vehicular traffic from 2 p.m. tomorrow, after about 21,000 residents walked across the bridge yesterday morning during an event organised by the Sports Bureau (ID) celebrating the bridge’s inauguration.
The bridge’s inauguration ceremony will be held tomorrow morning, National Day, at Pac On in Taipa, close to the bridge.
The bridge’s operational start was announced during a press conference on Friday where officials said that they expected it to be able to divert about 30 percent of vehicular traffic from the nearby Macau-Taipa Friendship Bridge during peak hours.
Macau Bridge connects the peninsula’s Zone A land reclamation area and the Zone E1 land reclamation area near Taipa’s Pac On district.
The 3,085-metre-long bridge has eight vehicular lanes – four in each direction, with one lane in each direction for motorcycles only.
According to Friday’s press conference, the bridge has a maximum speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour, while the maximum speed limit for the motorcycle lanes is 60 kilometres per hour.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng and other top officials officiated at yesterday morning’s walk on the bridge. Ho dotted the dragon’s eyes.
Only Macau residents were eligible to sign up for the six-kilometre walk.
The activity was initially to provide 10,000 places, before providing 21,000 places finally after its registration was met with a great deal of enthusiasm.
This aerial photo shows thousands of people walking across Macau Bridge in both directions yesterday.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (right) greets some of the 21,000 enthusiastic participants in the Macau Bridge walk yesterday morning. – Photos: GCS
