"The design should meet the standard of life span for the bridge, which is set at 120 years," it said.

The six-lane bridge will cut down the drive between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from about four hours to just half an hour.

Guangdong provincial government sources said a total of 18,200 freight vehicles and 1,177 passenger vehicles entered or left Hong Kong each day, while the figures for Macao were 883 and 354 respectively.

Wai Chi-sing, Hong Kong director of highways, said the Hong Kong government has made necessary environmental and engineering studies for the bridge and an environmental impact assessment will be completed by mid-2009.

(China Daily March 31, 2009)