2nd Nanjing Yangtze Bridge Opened to Traffic

Nanjing 2nd Yangtze Bridge Opened to Traffic

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The completed Second Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, a key construction project in China's Ninth Five-year Plan period which will help relieve the pressure on the transportation capacity of Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, was opened to traffic on March 26. General Party Chief Jiang Zemin inscribed the name for the Bridge. Premier Zhu Rongji conveyed his congratulations on the opening of the bridge.

As a central city in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River as well as one of the key cities for highway trunk lines, Nanjing presently has four national highways and one main national highway spanning the Yangtze River. The completion of the second Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, which is located 11 kilometers on the lower reaches of the Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, will greatly alleviate the pressure on the traffic capacity of the city.

With a main span extending 628 meters, the steel box girder stayed-cable bridge has two pylons reaching to the sky.

The second Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, which started construction on October 6, 1997, involves an investment estimated at 3.35 billion yuan. The project actually consists of two bridges, with an expressway across the Eight-Diagram (Bagua) Island in the River to link up the two, covering 21.197 kilometers in length. The whole line of the Bridge is designed to be all 6-lane expressways. Two-way navigation is possible for 5000-ton-class ships under the bridge. After more than three years of meticulous construction, the bridge has been completed seven months ahead of schedule and nearly 400 million yuan worth of investment saved. Experts praise the project as leading the country in quality and reaching the top rate in the world.



By PD Online staff member Du Minghua