Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200812/20081229/article_386315.htm
First tunnel under the Yangtze is in business
Created: 2008-12-29 2:14:05
CHINA'S first tunnel beneath the Yangtze River opened yesterday in central China's Hubei Province.
Traffic began to flow through the 3.63-kilometer, four-lane tunnel about 10am in Wuhan City, Hubei's capital.
Travel time between the city's major areas ?? Wuchang, where the government offices and universities are based, and Hankou, the business center, is now seven minutes. It used to take half an hour.
Around 50,000 vehicles can travel through the tunnel at 50 kilometers per hour every day. It is built to withstand flooding and an earthquake measuring up to six on the Richter Scale, Wuhan's Vice Mayor Yin Weizhen said.
The 2.05-billion-yuan (US$299.6 million) project began in November 2004 as part of the city's efforts to improve transportation infrastructure and relieve congestion.
Wuhan is one of the largest cities in central China, with a population of 8 million. It is where five railway lines, six expressways and several highways meet and is the gateway to China's hinterlands, hence its nickname, "the thoroughfare to nine provinces."
Before 1957, people had to travel across the river by ferry.
Then the Wuhan highway-railway bridge opened but soon felt the pressure of 100,000 motor vehicles and 300 trains crossing it each day.
The new tunnel was constructed using the most advanced engineering technology in complicated geological conditions, said Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
"The resources used in the construction will provide valuable references for other tunnel projects and will further promote China's river-crossing transport development," Wang said.
The 6,300km Yangtze River is a major transport link between western and eastern China and there are more than 100 bridges across the Yangtze River currently in use.
Construction of another two tunnels beneath the Yangtze is under way in Shanghai and Nanjing with Shanghai's Yangtze Tunnel-Bridge Project due to open before the 2010 World Expo. It will link Pudong New Area with Chongming Island via Changxing Island.
Traffic began to flow through the 3.63-kilometer, four-lane tunnel about 10am in Wuhan City, Hubei's capital.
Travel time between the city's major areas ?? Wuchang, where the government offices and universities are based, and Hankou, the business center, is now seven minutes. It used to take half an hour.
Around 50,000 vehicles can travel through the tunnel at 50 kilometers per hour every day. It is built to withstand flooding and an earthquake measuring up to six on the Richter Scale, Wuhan's Vice Mayor Yin Weizhen said.
The 2.05-billion-yuan (US$299.6 million) project began in November 2004 as part of the city's efforts to improve transportation infrastructure and relieve congestion.
Wuhan is one of the largest cities in central China, with a population of 8 million. It is where five railway lines, six expressways and several highways meet and is the gateway to China's hinterlands, hence its nickname, "the thoroughfare to nine provinces."
Before 1957, people had to travel across the river by ferry.
Then the Wuhan highway-railway bridge opened but soon felt the pressure of 100,000 motor vehicles and 300 trains crossing it each day.
The new tunnel was constructed using the most advanced engineering technology in complicated geological conditions, said Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
"The resources used in the construction will provide valuable references for other tunnel projects and will further promote China's river-crossing transport development," Wang said.
The 6,300km Yangtze River is a major transport link between western and eastern China and there are more than 100 bridges across the Yangtze River currently in use.
Construction of another two tunnels beneath the Yangtze is under way in Shanghai and Nanjing with Shanghai's Yangtze Tunnel-Bridge Project due to open before the 2010 World Expo. It will link Pudong New Area with Chongming Island via Changxing Island.
Xinhua
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