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World's Longest Sea Bridge Opens After 9 Years of Construction (go.com)
Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated China's latest mega-infrastructure project on Tuesday: The world's longest sea crossing. From a report: The 34.2-mile bridge and tunnel that have been almost a decade in the making for the first time connect the semi-autonomous cities of Hong Kong and Macau to the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai by road. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge spans the mouth of the Pearl River and significantly cuts the commuting time between the three cities. The previously four-hour drive between Zhuhai and Hong Kong will now take 45 minutes. One section of the crossing dives underwater into a 4.2 mile tunnel that creates a channel above for large cargo ship containers to pass through. The project came in over budget -- with Hong Kong alone investing $15 billion in it -- and delayed, as it was originally slate to open in 2016.
A big chunk of Phase 1's cost is the tracks between Caltrain & BART @ San Jose and somewhere around Modesto, which will get dual-use... LA-SF, and also SF-Modesto commuter rail. It's needed regardless of LA-bound trains. LA-SF is just frosting on the cake... regional commuter rail is the big prize, because it'll open up the Central Valley as East Silicon Valley.
Likewise, Brightline intends to extend Las Vegas-Victorville to Palmdale to connect with CALHSR, so you'll also be able to take the train from SF to Las Vegas (probably BEFORE it's 100% HSR the last ~50 miles into L.A.).
Worst-case, 50 years from now, CALHSR repurposes the bridge structures for vacuum supersonic maglev. The important thing will be ROW-preservation. In 50 years, central valley land will be as expensive & urban as the bay area is today, and CALHSR will be viewed as a spectacularly fortunate real-estate investment, if nothing else.