Transportation in Macau

Roads and Bridges
Macau has 321 kilometers of public roads. Two highway bridges link Macau to Zhuhai, the most recent of which, the 1.3-kilometer-long, six-lane Lotus Bridge, opened in December 1999. Two bridges link peninsular Macau with Taipa. The first, a 2.6 kilometer-long highway bridge, was completed in 1974; the second, completed in 1994 to serve the new Macau International Airport, is 4.4 kilometers long and four lanes wide. An eight-kilometer-long dual-lane highway links the airport and the Zhuhai border crossing. Taipa is connected to Coloane with a 2.2-kilometer-long causeway. The 38-kilometer-long connector, to be called the Lingdingyang Bridge, has been proposed to link Macau and Zhuhai with Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Buses and numerous taxicabs provide public transportation. Motorists in 1999 used some 55,114 automobiles and trucks and 58,116 motorcycles.

Highways:
total:50 km
paved: 50 km
unpaved: 0 km (1996 est.)

Sea Transportation
Jetfoils, turbo catamarans, and catamarans operate between the Macau Maritime Terminal and Hong Kong (Central or Kowloon, depending on type of craft). The trip between Macau and Hong Kong takes between 55 and 70 minutes depending on the type of craft. About 150 trips per day are made between Macau and Hong Kong. The Macau Maritime Terminal is located on the east shore of the Macau Peninsula (Macau outer harbor). The Macau Container Port, located near the Macau International Airport, was opened in 1991. Vessels leaving the port provide multiple daily round trips to Hong Kong and regular container ship service to Taiwan, Singapore, and to Chinese ports within the Zhujiang estuary. Macau's shallow harbor and channels, however, limit the size and number of ships that can enter the port.

Merchant marine:
none (1999 est.)

Air Transportation
Airports:1 (1999 est.) Airports - with paved runways: Macau International Airport
total: 1
over 3,047 m: 1 (1999 est.)

The Macau International Airport opened in December 1995 on reclaimed land on the east side of Taipa. It handles commercial and general aviation and accommodates all major aircraft up to Boeing 747-400s. There are two offshore runways (3,285 meters and 3,360 meters) and one taxiway (1,460 meters). Up to 6 million passengers per year capacity is available. Air Macau (established 1994 with 51 percent ownership by China) and more than twenty other airlines provide international flights to and from Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Pyongyang, Anchorage, and Los Angeles; and domestic flights to and from Taiwan (Taipei and Kaohsiung), Beijing, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Sanya, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xiamen, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou. Around 200 flights are scheduled per week. Helicopter service is available every 30 minutes during the day from the Macau Maritime Terminal to central Hong Kong.