A 6,042-meter six-lane traffic tunnel under the Yangtze River has been basically completed and will be ready for traffic in about June of next year. The RMB3.3 billion ($483-million) traffic tunnel, which will connects the city of Nanjing on both sides of the river. This is the third traffic tunnel built under the Yangtze River, China’s longest river. Cars will be able to travel at a speed of 80 km per hour in the tunnel. This more than doubles the traffic capaciting across the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and will help ease traffic across the Nanjing section of the river, which lies inside the booming Yangtze River Delta.
Another tunnel in Shanghai is expected to be ready for traffic at the end of the year and before the city hosts the 2010 World Expo.
People’s Daily Online reminds us the 6,300-km long Yangtze River, which originates in northwest China’s Qinghai Province and flows through 10 provinces and municipalities before emptying into the East China Sea, is a major transport link between west and east China. More than 100 bridges across the river are currently in use. Soon plus three tunnels.