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"In the coming months, the bridge's main span will be constructed section by section, some 62 metres above the Ma Wan Channel," said Mr Yeung.
Erection will continue from the middle of the bridge towards the two support towers, using four gantries, and the exercise is expected to take about six months to complete.
Each unit will weigh up to 500 tonnes, equivalent. to the weight of 20 double- decker buses. Most of the units will be lifted in pairs.
When the job is completed, the structural steel in the deck of the 2.2- kilometre long bridge will weigh about 50,000 tonnes.
Mr Yeung said during the lifting operation, part of the Ma Wan Channel would have to be closed for on average two days each week.
"The Highways Department is liaising closely with the contractor, the Marine Department and the Marine Police to minimise the effect on marine traffic," he said.
Commencement of deck erection is another milestone in the construction of the bridge linking Tsing Yi and Ma Wan Islands. It follows the completion of the two 206-metre high concrete towers in 1993 and the completion of the suspension cables earlier this year.
The Tsing Ma Bridge, the major bridge in the Lantau Fixed Crossing and one of the 10 projects in the Airport Core Programme, will carry six lanes of traffic on its upper deck and two railway tracks, and two road lanes for emergency use, on its sheltered lower deck. It will be the longest suspension bridge in the world carrying both roads and a railway.
The bridge is being built by the Anglo Japanese Construction Joint Venture under a $7.2 billion construction contract awarded by the Highways Department in May 1992.
Work is also progressing well on the other bridge in the Lantau Fixed Crossing, the cable-stayed Kap Shui Mun Bridge, which, together with the Ma Wan Viaduct, will connect Ma Wan and Lantau Islands.