Macao's first cable-stayed bridge was Monday named "Sai Van" meaning West Lake, which was selected from over 1,000 entries in a contest.

Construction of the 2,200-meter bridge has been the largest public project since Macao returned to the motherland at the end of 1999. The project was scheduled for completion before the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Dec. 20.

Since the unveiling of the bridge will be an important part of the anniversary celebration, Macao people have paid a special concern to the naming of the bridge. A five-member judging committee was set up in August to receive proposals for the name of the bridge. The selection result has been submitted to the SAR government to make the final choice.

Designed with double deck carriageways, the cable-stayed bridge adopted the world's first design of pylon type. It starts from the Sai Van Lake on the Macao Peninsula linking it to Taipa Island.

An important feature of the bridge is that cable of the bridge stays at 10-meter intervals and arrays in a M-shaped arch that signals the capital letter of "Macao".

Construction of the bridge started in 2002. The double-deck design allows six lanes in the upper layer and four lanes in the lower, which is shut down in common days and opens only when a typhoon hits the city.

As the third bridge linking the Macao Peninsula and Taipa Island, the bridge has also left room for the installation of a light rail. The bridge is important in infrastructure to accommodate an economic take-off of the Macao SAR.

Source: Xinhua