Earlier December, railway tracks began to be laid on the Shanghai-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge. The bridge, which is expected to open in the second half of 2020, will facilitate rail and road transport between the cities of Nantong and Suzhou, as well as promote economic integration in the Yangtze River Delta region, a key city cluster in China.
Stretching for more than 11 km, the bridge is one of the world's largest cable-stayed bridges. It features a six-lane expressway on its upper deck and four railway tracks on its lower deck. It will only take one hour to travel between Shanghai and Nantong, compared with about five hours currently by car, according to a staff member of the project.
The bridge has 432 stay cables, the longest of which is 577 meters long. Each cable consists of about 400 steel wires. One of its single wires, no wider than the width of a human thumb, is capable of holding the weight of an adult elephant, which means the bridge has a strong load capacity, he said, adding the cables feature Chinese intellectual property protection.
Source: China Daily
