A total of 761 bridges will be built over the "middle route" of China's massive south-north water diversion project, said You Ling, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Traffic Department of Yangtze River Design Institute.

The "middle route," with a total length of 1,427 kilometers, will run through five provinces and municipalities where the road network is well-developed. "It is necessary to build so many bridges for the sake of traffic convenience," You said.

The massive project, which began construction in December 2002, will divert water from the Yangtze, China's longest river, to the country's drought-affected north via three routes, the eastern, middle and western.

The first phase of construction of the project's eastern and middle routes will cost 124 billion yuan (14.94 billion US dollars). Once the first phase is completed, the project will be able to divert about 13.4 billion cubic meters of water from the Yangtze to the north annually, according to the South-North Water Diversion Project Office.