Building a bridge of steel

Due to open in 2024, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan bridge across the Pearl River is expected to cut commuting time between the two cities in South China's Guangdong province from two hours to about 30 minutes. Construction of the bridge is currently in full swing.

The project is a sea-crossing link, integrating two bridges, two artificial islands, a twoway eight-lane tunnel and underwater channels.

The link is designed with a total span of about 24 kilometers, and the speed limit on the crossing, when it is completed, will be a maximum speed of 100 km per hour.

As an important infrastructure project in China, the bridge, once completed, is expected to improve transportation in the Greater Bay Area, which covers the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Guangdong.

The bridge will also serve as a corridor linking the Nansha, Qianhai, Cuiheng and Hengqin areas of the province.

The construction started in December 2016.

With a length of 6.8 km and a width of 46 meters, the two-way eight-lane tunnel will be the largest and widest in the world. More than 320,000 metric tons of steel is required for its construction.

It has been the major transportation construction project under the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and will help further develop the Pearl River Delta region.

The plan to build a roadway across the Pearl River dates back to 2002, when the Guangdong government started research on building a cross-river channel between Shenzhen and Zhuhai in Guangdong.

In 2008, the government carried out a feasibility study on the construction of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan bridge.

In December 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, officially approved its construction.