Complementarity of island cross-sea transport links: Bridges, ferries, and mobility in Zhoushan Archipelago, China

Abstract

Islands and archipelagos are exceptionally dependent on the nature of their transport infrastructure, with cross-sea transport links being of fundamental importance for mobility. Traditionally, the island geography research literature has engaged in a binary and oppositional understanding of the relationship between fixed links such as bridges and tunnels on the one hand and waterborne transport such as ferries on the other. The present paper uses the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China) to challenge this perception of fixed links and waterborne transport as inherently conflictual by showing how these distinct modes of cross-sea transport have complemented one another and fundamentally altered archipelagic mobilities. We show that even transformative transport infrastructures do not necessarily simply replace existing infrastructures but may instead add to the complexity of the local transport network. In Zhoushan Archipelago, a vast network of new and future inter-island and island-mainland road and rail bridges and tunnels are altering local industry and society as well as the relationship between the archipelago and the mainland, yet ferries remain important for transport between islands and between certain islands and the mainland. We argue that it is fruitful to consider the potential complementarity of different kinds of cross-sea transport links.