Choi Yee Bridge

Choi Yee Bridge (Traditional Chinese: 蔡意橋; Portugese: Ponte de Choy Yee) is a bridge in the Free State of Torbury. It carries Highway 2 across Lake Appleby and is a crucial link between Free State of Torbury and the City of Watersauga since this bridge carries the primary road access to the border crossing in Portas do Cerco.

Etymology
Choi Yee Bridge was named after a bridge of the same name in Hong Kong, and ultimately named after an entrepreneur in the 18th century.

The original romanization of the bridge name should be "Choy Yee". However, when creating documentation for construction of the bridge, it was mistyped as "Choi Yee", and this romanization remained to be the official name of the bridge since. Despite of that, the unofficial Portugese name still retains the old romanization of "Choy Yee".

History
In 1910, a predecessor of the bridge was built as part of the Toronto-Sudbury Highway. It was a wooden bridge intended for pedestrian usage. During World War I, it became solely for military usage and off limits to the public. It remained so even after the war has ended. During World War II in the late 1930s, in part of the Japanese Invasion of Torbury, Choi Yee Bridge was bombed to cut off military supplies and assistance from the City of Watersauga.

After the war ended, in the 1940s, the only way to go from the Town of Oldby (now Royal Plains) to the City of Watersauga was by boat. In the 1950s, as vehicular transportation became popular, it was strongly suggested, especially by the locals, to rebuild the bridge. It was done so in 1951, as a two-laned level bridge paved with asphalt, the first of its kind in Torbury. The bridge opened to traffic on September 16, 1951.

With further growth in Royal Plains, the bridge was expanded into 4 lanes in 1978. It remained as the only road access to the other side of Lake Appleby and to the City of Watersauga until 2004. A closure of the bridge would cause massive panic and inconvenience to both sides of the bridge.

The implementation of speedBus Central Line required a separate roadway to cross the bridge, and thus the bridge was required to operate in a dual-deck. After extensive planning in the early 2000s, constructions began in November 2004. During that time, the current Choi Yee Bridge was closed to public, and an alternate temporary bridge was constructed, namely the Sun Choi Yee Bridge (Traditional Chinese: 新蔡意橋) for traffic usage during the construction. This bridge now carries Windsor Avenue across Lake Appleby.

Choi Yee Bridge was re-opened to traffic on April 2, 2007, as a dual-deck level bridge, and started carrying speedBus Central Line services on the upper deck. The upper deck serves as a connector between the Rapidway Flyover on both sides of the lake.

Future prospects
As Royal Plains continue to grow on both sides of the bridge, further bridges may be opened upstream or downstream to ease the flow of traffic on Choi Yee Bridge.

The planned upgrade of speedBus Central Line to a light rail system will pose another significant engineering challenge to the bridge in the future. This might even result in another closure of the bridge for a period of time, and causes traffic problems to the city.

Regulations
The bridge is not governed by any control areas or companies. It is free of charge to cross the bridge.

However, when a or above is issued for the City of Royal Plains, due to the bridge's design, the bridge will be off-limits to traffic, though tropical cyclones are rare in this part of the kingdom.

Public transportation

 * Human Transit Corporation route 2H 'Mainline Royal Plains'
 * Human Transit Corporation route 29 'Choi Yee Bridge - Appleby Local'
 * Human Transit Corporation speedBus Central Line