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So it's not a technical or engineering failure, it's just a bureaucratic failure.

The worst problem is that both immigration checkpoints in Hong Kong and Macau are based on the very edge of the cities, while ferry terminals are located at the heart of both cities, if you include the travel time to the immigration checkpoints at both sides, the trip will take longer than going by ferry.

A trip on this bridge is a fantastic experience.

Pre-pandemic, I flew over this bridge a couple of times on the approach to Hong Kong. Beautiful bridge, but I only needed my two hands to count the number of vehicles I saw.

The ferry service between HK and Macau was very efficient. Multiple ferries went all day and not only quickly but on time.

It just reminds me how blessed we are in the EU to have the visa free Schengen area which allows us to travel between all participating countries without any obstacles and delays.

It seems incredible that such an adventurous engineering accomplishment should have been undertaken before the the consequent problems had been thrashed out.

They should have made a rail bridge or perhaps a combination bridge, road and rail

It seems that a lot of consequences and potential problems were overlooked at the beginning. That's why making lists is so important. This reminds of surgeons who have left surgical instruments inside patients simply because they thought they were too smart to forget anything. Nurses solved the problem by creating checklists.

I was absolutely astounded to see this giant bridge in the middle of the ocean as I approached the airport during my one and only trip to Hong Kong in 2018!

If you've ever been to Hong Kong, you'll know that only the super rich own private cars. Space is at such a premium in Hong Kong, that owning a parking spot is seen often as an extreme expense that no one would want to own. So a bridge that relies on car traffic out of Hong Kong, is just ridiculous.

$18 billion is not bad. A project of that scope here in the US would cost 5-10 times more.

Well this bridge would have been a failure if this was designed with people in mind. But this is strategic investment which allows the PLA to easily reach Hong Kong in times of unrest. From the military standpoint this bridge serves its prupose well. I don't see many channels covering this from a different POV.

Macau drives on the left. When I visited there, back in the early 1980s and crossed into China, the bus had to cross over to the right as it crossed the border

Not true about not allowing LHD in Hong Kong, they are often imported and driven. The restriction for the bridge is the difficulty of getting a permit. You have to hold a permit to use the bridge and only 3000 have been issued on the mainland.

It’s not a failure bc it’s construction wasn’t economically but political it was a way to show and remind HK and Macao residents that they are attached to the mainland. It’s more symbolic then anything and in this regard the bridge was a total success

A technicality here, Macau drives on the left (steering wheel on the right) just like Hong Kong, so your comment at 7:11 is incorrect. The scenario is more like this, you start off in Macau driving on the left, once you exited the Macau zone past immigration, the lanes switch to the right as the territory in the middle of the sea belongs to China. Lanes continue to the on the right through the tunnels until you approach the HK immigration around the HK airport and once you pass immigration the lanes go back to the left.

Really insightful video. Makes me wonder why the commuter journey, including all the immigration procedures, weren't thought through while the bridge was being built. My family took the bus from the HKIA terminal to Macau some years back. The bridge was extremely impressive! Hope that things get sorted out and the bridge can be put to good use to link up the three cities.

The original concept was to link HK with Zhuhai and areas to the west. HK have a large shipping port and air freight facilities. The bridge would make the development of Zhuhai and beyond to be more attractive.

A connection problem when ferries did the crossing in 1 hour?...

I knew of the bridge but I found this video gave me a lot more information and understanding of how things really are. Thanks, appreciated in gaining more knowledge.

To paraphrase Henry Royce: "The quality will be remembered long after the price is forgotten”

I've used the bridge on several occasions and although you go through 2 immigration points neither had held me up for more than a few minutes, just showed proper passport/paperwork. The use of the bridge is limited to vehicles that have a permit so mostly restricted to busses and hire limousines, although some private cars do travel between the cities (just takes longer to go through inspections).

near double cost over 10 years is not an example of those costs "spiraling out of control". London, Millenium dome: initial budget 100 million GBP, final cost: ~ 900 million GBP, THAT'S an example of an 'out of control' cost blowout.

It is hardly a colossal failure. This is for the future when the region becomes a 100+ million super mega city.

This is a very ambitious & chellenging project, and there is always leason to learn. This allow China to learn bridge building with such chellenging issues.

I was there in 2019 and yes this bridge was practically unused.

The very obvious, IF they wish to move freight rail makes more sense. Even moving many passengers. Equally obvious they have to get border procedures over before they leave which ever mainland. And the stupidity of spending this much money then having a ban on r/h drive vehicles,,, dumb dumb and dumber. And the insurance issues as well. That should have been sorted out with the industry well ahead of opening.

Hong Kong still driving on the left is ludicrous.

Don't forget the interest or opportunity cost of the 20 billion investment, a mere 5% annual cap rate means 1 billion each year to finance the bridge

watching for support friend please stay connected thank you.

Excellent analysis. I thought the bridge failed because of structural problems. Now I know it is mostly from bureaucratic and political issues. I hope all problems can be resolved soon.

It was always going to be "The bridge to nowhere".

Watching this video...where was this so called ''Failure'' Its Beautiful and awesome

How much time do I have to use the bridge today compared to drive around the Bay Area ? Railway connection of course this would have been great, but increased the budget a lo!

sounds like a cluster you know what

The difference between right and left-hand traffic is a non-starter for the project?

I am a hongkonger,and when I was on the plane about to take off,I saw the bridge and there was like only 10 cars,trucks and buses in the span of 5 minutes

The cost of this bridge is 120b Chinese yuan. That equils 13.1b pound。 Do you know how much Heathrow third runway will be cost? 17.6b pound.

A very thorough and unbiased assessment of the bridge. I would add one more reason for the bridge failure. If the Double-Y option which included Shenzhen in it, was adopted, there would be much much increased traffic between Zhuhai and Shenzhen as these two cities are on the mainland without border hinderance.. The traffic between these two Mainland cities are so high that a separate bridge linking them is now being built.

6:50 Hong Kong and Macau are left-hand traffic, but the traffic rule including road signs on the bridge follows China's. Many Hong Kongers considered this bridge as one of the 'white elephant' projects. Which seems it is constructed concerning on political more than financial feasible. The majority section of the bridge is built by China's, private car requires special license to get on the bridge to enter the 3 places or to park at Park & Ride in Macau / Zhuhai side.

Both Macau and Hong Kong drive on the left

New York has a parallel failure in the new Tappan Zee. The opportunity to add a rail line, even a light rail line linking Nyack and the Northern tip of Manhattan was a wicked waste. At least their is a walkway

When I visited then Portugese-ruled Macau in 1994, to my surprise the traffic drove on the left as in Hong Kong. When was the change-over and were there problems? I recall when Sweden switched on one day in 1967. My tour guide in Hong Kong said her soon-to-be former British colony planned to leave the left-hand traffic as is. Lawrence Stelter, 7/16/23

Watched a video in which the Chinese people said they wouldn't use the bridge because they thought it might be 'Tofu Dreg' and don't get them started on the tunnel.

I was taken over the bridge to my quarantine hotel in Zhuhai , bad memory

The bridge could be a tourist destination, but that would require stopping the red tape!

Most construction projects of this scale go over budget for many reasons. I think it is a beautiful bridge and will help the economy in the long run.

The proposed shorter Zhongshan/Shenzhen bridge is going to be hugely successful. There will be some kind of 'border' control (it's an authoritarian country) but nothing like the Zhuhai Bridge. I've Hong Kong many times, but I've only been through Shenzhen on the train. (I remember when it was a small city and it was mostly farms all the way to Guangzhou.) I've also been in Zhongshan about 40km from Macau, but I've never been to Macau -- too much effort to see... casinos? The hundred kilometers in the other directions -- Tashan County? I've been all over. One would think that the PRC government as proof of its dominion over Macau and Hong Kong would've eliminated border controls. So who did the investors/owners/operators of the Zhuhai Bridge piss off in Beijing that none of these purely bureaucratic have been resolved? Left hand drive cars still banned in Hong Kong? The pragmatic issue is likely a concern that already congested Hong Kong could be overwhelmed by incoming traffic. (In most places I know of there're no laws against having an opposite side steering whee because it isn't a problem. Many US Postal Services delivery vehicles have right side steering wheels. )

Why not using supersonic airframes instead?

The Hong Kong -Zhuhai-Macau bridge is a huge project . This bridge was opened in February 2018. In 2019-2020 there was riots and chaos in Hong Kong in an attempted colour revolution aimed at the Mainland Central Government. Then the thrird factor was the 2020 - 2022 disruptions of the COVID_19 pandemic across China, and the world.. The Covid-19 caused serious shut down of large parts of China including Hong Kong and Macau with travel bans only eased in February -May 2023. We are still not able to freely travel to China in June 2023 for reasons not unexpected in a recovery . All our company'd procurements had been deferred for 4 years today. In planning manufacturing investment and many serious business takes years, and then there is the testing, verification and acceptance. Today in June 2023 is quite wrong and pre-mature to assert the the Hong Kong -Zhuhai-Macau cross -sea bridge is a "colossal failure" . It has not yet begun to fight. A little more time please. In consideration of the limited space here your analysis is good nevertheless . Many thanks.

Roads like houses always gets the go ahead over other methods

I see a cost overrun of 80 % as rather low, unluckily.

cheasapeak tunnel bridge been there done that

If globeEX calls this mega project a "colossal failure" then let's have more of them!!! Meanwhile in the USA's Silicon Valley they still can't get a high speed rail link going after decades of promising; and dozens if not hundreds of US bridges across the country are thought to be at risk of collapse.This bridge linking Macau and Hong Kong is an infrastructure marvel and a phenomenal engineering feat. Well done to the planners, engineers and government officers who helped make this project go from start to finish. Economic payback for projects of this scale doesn't happen in a few short years from opening but is recouped over a far longer time horizon and the Chinese are well aware of this. In the years to come its true value will come to be realised.

6:45 Macau has left-hand traffic (same as HK).

To make this a succes: 1 abolish all border controls (It's all in China after all), 2 Allow all cars left or right hand to drive in Hongkong and China ,3 make it free to use.

If the average vehicle crossing the bridge has 41 occupants - which could be the case given that most of the vehicles apparently are buses -, then those 411 dollars per vehicle come down to ten dollars per trip.

was the rail link ever an option ?

So I'm the only one that hollered when the AI said econoMESS? LOL!

Could a rail line be an "add on"; possibly hung underneath.. assuming the strength is sufficient.?

2023 est for Interstate 5 Columbia River bridge replacement is $6.3B & I don't think that includes the bells and whistles that would be stupid not to include... although, whatever is decided, it will undoubtedly simply be feeding into one of Portland Oregon's freeway crawl zones. What's goin' on with the Three Gorge's dam?... has it busted (again?) or not? Okay, back to the show... thanks for sharing, gracias

I have been on this bridge so many times that i have lost count .When my family and friends from the UK that comes to hong kong . They will say the trip to macau is amazing. Every gold bus is packed with people and is a great experience. Well done China . Good to see everyone is happy and the government is making money everyday ❤😅

They should make that into a race track.

Amazing china

How do they solve left hand right hand driving between the cities?

I can't believe they didn't put rail on the bridge. Car only???

From an outsiders perspective, it seems as if the only vehicles that can have use of the bridge *and* at both ends would be bicycles, perhaps also motorcycles depending on the standards applicable to them. 🚵 I can say - As a British cyclist who finds much more comfort riding the roads of Paris versus those of London - That bicycles (Unlike cars) appear capable of meeting both Chinese and Hong Kong standards *at the same time.* 🙃 An additional benefit is that bicycles function in exactly the same way whether driving is on the left or the right...As verified by the unfortunate fact my UK town has an area which so closely resembles a part of Hamburg I automatically ride on the *German* side whenever I'm passing through it! 😳

You need to incentivise more gamblers to use the bridge. Free chips.

the most significant issue was the immigration implementation.. you needed to have both immigration from hongkong & immigration upon reaching macao.. the ferry immigration was troublesome already.. but the immigration thru the bridge was worst, on both sides.. if this issue can be addressed, then more people will be encouraged using the bridge.. its cheaper & faster than the ferry route

So this is another brilliant example of human (Chinese) short thinking, however some few people must have become very rich. Well done and it looks kinda nice at night.

I remembered all the medias were laughing at the empty highways when China started to build them in the 90s, . Now they have one of the busiest and extensive highway network.

These issues should not come as a surprise

good to hear, that not only Germany messes up such big projects - see Berlin airport or Stuttgart train station - and luckily many other countries screw up even more - so welcome to the club !

I've used the ferries and the bridge many times. I would choose the ferry any day. There are 2 main departure points, one on HK Island and the other on Kowloon, ferries run at 15 minute intervals during the day and every 30 minutes or so throughout the night. Via the bridge most people take the bus, the freqeuncy is limited and space is far less than on the ferries, not that the buses are very full. The bus terminals are not easily reached, certainly on the HK side, it's about 1 hour on the bus from Kowloon bus station, and there is no easy connection by rail or MTR. China has a thing about bridges and tunnels, but this one was a bridge too far.

Guess someone didn't think this through very well, only seems they wanted to put up something flashy

Weren't there reports of the tunnel section leaking?

Well narrated.

I am really tired of these gigantic failures. Every large project is instigated by incompetent psychopaths. Best to stay meek. Thank you for the video.

It seems like they will have to switch left-driving Hong-Kong to right-driving. Then reduce bureaucracy for both private and business vehicles. Minimise toll tarifs; to match perceived benefits to cost in the minds of users.

take out the center lane going each way and add the rail line as there is only 62 vehicles per hour going each way.

Gee typhoons and monsoons. What can go wrong?

Ww had always a great time travelling on the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge. Our friends and Relatives from other Countries were so proud and happy marveling at being on the longest Bridge in the World. And it only took around 45 minutes in a super comfortable Bus and the travel was a breeze. And Immigration doesnt take more than 2 minutes.. HZMB is truly a Marvel of this World. Great 🇨🇳

Wait, What? CITY document "checks"? WTF. No wonder the bridge is in trouble from low use. The federal government needs to step in and simplify things - FAST.

Rail line missing over bridge

While fun to speculate the bridge should have included a railway connection, this ignores that the added costs would have been massive - like 50% or more. Trains are heavy, so adding railway not simply compares to adding an extra, or two, road lanes - it takes much more.

" another fine mess you've got me in Stanley"......

amazing !!! The Intelligent Chinese discovered that vehicles from macao cant enter Hong Kong only after completing the bridge.

"it is a total success, what the heck are you talking about" It was built to be a transport connection, but is so under utilised that it's success as a road bridge is being questioned. One vehicle per minute is not a success !

3 words: AWARENESS is everything

No colossal failure on the bridge construction and use. The colossal failure is for the video to to have proper comparison and analysis. A basic a toll highway in north America of equivalent length would cost as much if not more and the toll fees would be much higher. It would also have low traffic for a number of years until user and becomes customized to use. The left/right shifting would have to be done on regular land route as well so no disadvantage but the bridge saved many hours of commute.

Macau also drives on the left!

Delusions of grandeur - that's the hallmark of China's current leader! This bridge is one of the best examples.The higher you fall, the harder it is.

This bridge is ideal for train services - K R Subramanian

I wish we have those problem.

Macau traffic is on the left, as with Hong Kong.

These Chinese failures always warm my heart. Mega thanks!

The future of transportation is with rail and not with individual cars. This should have been a primarily rail bridge and only secondarily for cars. China has developed an enormous high-speed rail network, so why did the planners fall asleep on this?

The voice alone told me it was CLICKBAIT