Plus: The World’s Longest Over-Water Bridge and MORE.

The World’s Longest Sea Bridge Opens
The world’s longest over-water bridge, at 26.4 miles, opened in China yesterday, surpassing the previous record holder, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, by more than 2.5 miles, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Built by more than 10,000 workers, it has taken four years to build the Jiaozhou Bay bridge. Made up of 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete, the bridge “stands on 5,200 pillars and was entirely designed by Chinese engineers at the Shandong Gausu Group,” the Telegraph reports.

“Cost figures for the Jiaozhou Bay bridge, which is expected to carry 30,000 cars a day, vary widely,” TIME‘s NewsFeed explains: “State-run CCTV reported that the cost was more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) and the Xinhua news agency put the cost at $2.3 billion, and some estimates have put the cost at more than $8.8 billion.”

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is the sixth longest bridge ever built and, according to BBC News, is six miles longer than the English Channel at it narrowest point. Eleven of the world’s 15 longest bridges are located in China.

Click image for larger view
Credit: Xinhua

By the Numbers: Independence Day
Your workplace may already be operating with a skeleton staff, many colleagues taking an extra-long weekend to spend this Fourth of July with family and friends.

Still, someone has to keep things going while everyone else is at the beach, and if that someone is you this week, ease your way into the holiday weekend with these Independence Day-relevant retail and trade figures.

2.5 Million
Estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation in July 1776
Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s Historical Statistics of the U.S: Colonial Times to 1970

311.7 Million
Estimated population of the United States this Independence Day
Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock

20.1%
Percentage of American consumers who will buy patriotic merchandise — including flags, apparel and decorations — this year, up from 16.2 percent last year
Source: National Retail Federation’s 2011 Independence Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey

$3.2 Million
Value of U.S. imports of American flags, $2.8 million of which was for U.S. flags made in China in 2010
Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Statistics

$486,026
Value of U.S. flags exported in 2010, with Mexico as the leading customer, buying $256,407 worth
Source: Ibid

$302.7 Million
Annual value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by U.S. manufacturers, based on the latest data available
Source: 2007 Economic Census, (Series EC0731SP1, Products and Services Code 3149998231)

$190.7 Million
Value of fireworks imported from China in 2010, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($197.3 million), while U.S. exports of fireworks came to just $37 million last year
Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Statistics

$231.8 Million
Value of U.S. manufacturers’ shipments of fireworks and pyrotechnics (including flares and igniters) in 2007
Source: 2007 Economic Census (Series EC0731SP1, Products and Services Code 325998J108)

$98.3 Billion
Value of trade last year between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today
Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Statistics

Celebrate Independence Day with Popular Science, which — using an ultra-high-speed video camera typically used for everything from super slow-motion sports instant replays to manufacturing processes to military flight tests — filmed fireworks blowing up eggs and mayonnaise at 2,000 frames per second. Just as the Founding Fathers intended:

Click the black screen to play

We’ll be back with our regularly scheduled publications after July 4th. Until then, from the entire IMT staff, we wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy Independence Day weekend.