BEIJING – The $20 billion Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is the world’slongest sea-crossing bridge.The bridge is a central plank in China’sambitious plans to develop the Greater Bay Area. The bridge is anengineering marvel.

As we drive down the eerily deserted Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, themurky waters of the Pearl River Delta stretch as far as the eye can see.There is no land in sight.

Spanning 34 miles (55 kilometers), this is the longest sea-crossing bridgeever built. Guo Xinglin, assistant director and senior engineer at the HongKong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority, meets us half way along.

As we are buffeted by a strong wind, the tough conditions his constructioncrew experienced, as they perched on precarious platforms, working milesfrom land and high over the water, are evident.

Xinglin is visibly proud of his country’s monumental achievement.

Due to open to the public this summer, this long snake of bitumen willconnect a relatively small city on the Chinese mainland with the twoSpecial Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

But since the bridge was first suggested in 2003, it has stirredcontroversy. This massive span of concrete and steel is not just proof ofChina’s ability to build record-setting megastructures — it’s also apotent symbol of the country’s growing geopolitical ambitions.

As tensions simmer between the mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Chinacontinues to claim territory in the South China Sea, the bridge can be seenas a physical manifestation of the Chinese leadership’s determination toexert its regional influence.

Critics have also questioned the environmental and human toll and theimmense financial cost of the project.