Giant Hangzhou bridge to open May 1
The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, billed as the world's longest sea-crossing bridge at 36km, will be commissioned on May 1.
'The main part of the project has been completed and 95 per cent of the ancillary work has also been finished,' Xinhua yesterday quoted a spokesman for the Hangzhou Bay Bridge Construction Headquarters as saying.
Work on the bridge started in 2003 and planners previously said it would be finished in time for the Beijing Olympics, earlier than an original deadline of 2010.
Reports have said runners would carry the Olympic torch across the bridge.
The 11.8 billion yuan (HK$13.1 billion) bridge will cut the distance between Shanghai and Ningbo city in Zhejiang by 120km and cut the travelling time to less than two hours, compared with the current four, Xinhua said.
Vehicles will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 100km/h on the six-lane bridge, which links Cixi city near Ningbo with Jiaxing on the border with Shanghai.
The government hopes the bridge will boost economic integration in the Yangtze River Delta region, which takes in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu , and is home to more than 70 million people.
The bridge is supported by cable stays, and piles were driven more than 100 metres into the seabed to stabilise the structure. Officials working on the project have hailed it as an engineering marvel.
In another first, several private companies helped fund the bridge along with state firms, given Zhejiang's status as a centre for private industry.
Residents living near the bridge on both sides of the bay are hoping for an economic boost from tourism and travel.
