Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng announced that the two ends of a bridge connecting Luchao port, on the coast of Shanghai, and Minor Yangshan Isle, in Hangzhou Bay of the East China Sea, were joined on Wednesday.

When fully completed, it is the first bridge in China across a portion of the sea.

With a length of 32.5 km and a width of 31.5 meters, the bridge, named East China Sea Bridge, will be the only passage to the Yangshan Isles, where a deep-water port is being built. It has six lanes, a speed limit of 80 km/h, and is connected to the outer ring road of Shanghai by a freeway.

The bridge, which began construction June 2002, runs 40 meters above the sea at its biggest navigable passage is capable of accommodating cargo vessels with 10,000 dead weight tonnages.

It will be put into use in November.

Industry experts say completion of the East China Sea Bridge, along with the operation of the first phase of the Yangshan deep- water port late this year, will lay a foundation for efforts to build Shanghai into an international shipping center.

Chinese traditionally view the joining of the two sides of a bridge, or he long, as an auspicious moment.

Source: Xinhua