Longest sea bridge opens to delta traffic

wendy

Longest sea bridge opens to delta traffic
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-02 09:39


The world's longest cross-sea bridge was opened yesterday as part of China's efforts to boost economic integration and development in the Yangtze River Delta.





Hundreds of people attended the opening ceremony of the 36-km bridge spanning Hangzhou Bay. Tens of thousands of others gathered on the banks of the bay, many performing dragon dances in traditional costumes.

The bridge was opened to traffic at midnight.

It links Haiyan, Jiaxing to Cixi, Ningbo, in Zhejiang province, and cuts the road trip from Shanghai to Ningbo, a busy port, by 120 km.

The bridge, with a 32-km section across the sea, is a cable-stayed structure built at a cost of 11.8 billion yuan ($1.69 billion). Construction of the six-lane link, which allows a maximum speed of 100 kph, started on November 14, 2003, and was completed on June 26 last year.

Dean

Traffic jam on new Hangzhou Bay bridge

Hangzhou Bay Bridge, one of the longest bridges in the world, has just been put into trial operations. However, despite the latest building technology, the swarm of curious visitors has created good old fashioned traffic jams!