China opens 2.3-mile road tunnel under longest river
CHINA: China has opened its first tunnel under its longest river, the
Yangtze, a 2 billion yuan ($292 million) engineering feat to ease
traffic congestion in the central city of Wuhan, local media reported on
Monday.
The 3.63-km (2.26 mile), four-lane tunnel, which opened on Sunday,
would cut the travel time from the city's eastern shore to the Hankou
business district to seven minutes from the usual 30, the Shanghai Daily
said, citing local authorities.
China, the world's fourth-largest economy, is spending heavily on
infrastructure in a bid to ward off a hard landing for the economy,
which is growing more slowly amid the global financial crisis.
China would open another two tunnels underneath the Yangtze in
Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province, and in financial capital
Shanghai, by 2010, the paper said.
China opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge in May, a 12
billion yuan project linking Shanghai with the port city of Ningbo.
Beijing, Monday, Reuters
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