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SCMP Reporter

THE last 500-tonne steel section of the Tsing Ma bridge will be lifted into place later this month, engineers said as Prime Minister John Major visited the site yesterday.

Work is now more than 75 per cent complete on the $7.1 billion project, which will be the world's longest span road-rail suspension bridge.

Principal engineer Alan Rees of Mott MacDonald Hong Kong said the last-but-one deck section had been slotted into place on Thursday.

The final piece is expected to be hoisted into position in three to four weeks' time.

There are 50 sections, 44 of which are 36 metres long and weigh 1,000 tonnes. The remaining six are 18 metres long and weigh 500 tonnes.

The steel in the deck is more than three times the quantity used in the Bank of China.

Mr Major arrived by helicopter shortly after 4 pm with Governor Chris Patten and an entourage of advisers and security men.

The Prime Minister, wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and red spotted tie, was taken to an observation point to look at the bridge, which is part of the Lantau Fixed Crossing.

The Tsing Ma bridge, due for completion in May 1997, will be 2,160 metres long with a main suspended span of 1,377 metres. It will carry the road and railway linking the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to Central.

Director of Highways Leung Kwok-sun showed Mr Major how the bridge had been designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 300 km/h at the top of the support towers.

 In severe weather the upper level will be closed and traffic will use a sheltered lower deck built for emergency use.



Last section of Tsing Ma to rise soon