Wuhan's Third Yangtze Bridge Opens

Wuhan's Third Yangtze Bridge Opens

The third bridge over the Yangtze River in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, was completed and opened Friday.

Construction on the Wuhan Baishazhou Bridge, which is located 8.6 kilometers north of the first Yangtze Bridge in Wuhan, started in 1997.

With an investment of over 1.4 billion yuan (about 170 million U.S. dollars), the bridge, which is 3,586 meters long and 26.5 meters wide, has six lanes and can withstand 50,000 vehicles a day.

The bridge is expected to serve as a major traffic hub for the future Wuhan Ring Road, according to a local transportation official. It will greatly ease the city's traffic and improve local economic development.

The first and second Yangtze bridges in Wuhan opened in 1957 and 1995 respectively.