Cities that are growing this rapidly must also show accompanying infrastructure changes. The additions of bridges, highways, railroads, and airports are intended to merge the cities of the delta into a single megalopolis.
One ambitious project is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, set to open in 2018, to connect the three cities and cut the travel time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai from 3 hours to 30 minutes. Visible as a long, thin line across the bay, the bridge-tunnel system includes 42 kilometers of bridges over water and a 7-kilometer tunnel. The tunnel allows ships to enter and exit the bay and runs between two artificial islands. The entire system is about 15 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge. The total cost of bridge was $7.56 billion.
Built to withstand an 8.0 earthquake, the bridge will make it easier for goods from the entire PRD to be transported to Hong Kong’s international airport for export. Speaking of the airport, a third runway, scheduled to open in 2014, is being added north of the existing runways. It will be 3,800 m long and is being built on 650 hectares of reclaimed land.
The natural color image from Europe's Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows the bridge at 10-meter resolution. Ships are visible in the water, including the wakes behind the ships.