Gibraltar bridge


A bridge spanning 9 miles over the Straits of Gibraltar at the entryway to the Mediterranean would be the longest and tallest ever built. It would connect cultures of Christianity and Islam and potentially increase ties between the economies of Europe and Africa.


Gibraltar Bridge
The proposed bridge over the Straits of Gibraltar would allow automobile traffic between Spain and Morocco.


Stats:
Location: Strait of Gibraltar. Links Spain and Morocco.
Length: 9 miles, Two spans of 4 1/2 miles each
Height: Each tower is 3,000 feet tall. Twice as high as the world's tallest skyscraper.
Width: 5 traffic lanes, 2 breakdown lanes in each direction
Road Deck Material: Fiberglass
Length of Wire Cables: 1,000,000 miles (Enough to circle the Earth almost 30 times)
Closest living relative: Akashi bridge in Japan, world's longest suspension bridge at 12,828 feet.
Cost: $15 billion
Dangers: Wind speeds of 80 mph at tops of towers, ship collision, ocean currents, traffic, Sahara Desert dust storms.

Withstand ship collisions and high winds.
A bridge the size and configuration of Gibraltar Bridge is usually protected by artificial islands built around its piers. That way, ships run aground before they can do any damage to the structure.

But artificial islands are not an option in the middle of the ocean. The Gibraltar Bridge designers instead envision a ring of underwater bumpers to withstand ship collisions.




Build in the open ocean.

When determining the exact site of the bridge, designers had to choose between a shallow area that spanned 20 miles, which would have meant many piers in a busy shipping zone, and a narrow portion that's 2,700 feet deep.

But the Gibraltar Bridge designers lucked out.
A closer inspection of the narrow portion revealed an underwater "mountain" in the center that could hold the center pier