Advertisement
Xi Jinping calls for bay area push as Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link opens, but jams slow traffic
- Massive 44.69 billion yuan road project linking two sides of Pearl River Delta opens after seven years of work
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
7
A massive road project connecting the two sides of the Pearl River Delta opened on Sunday with heavy traffic congestion, as President Xi Jinping hailed the launch and called for further strides to promote integration in the Greater Bay Area.
The 24km (15 mile) Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, which opened after seven years of construction, is designed to cut travel times between the two mainland Chinese cities on opposite sides of the delta from two hours to 30 minutes.
But heavier-than-usual vehicle pressure resulted in lengthy traffic jams at both entrances to the link – which includes two bridges and two artificial islands, as well as an undersea tunnel – during the first day.
Kilometres-long queues formed as many vehicles crossed provinces to experience the 44.69 billion yuan (US$6.15 billion) eight-lane highway for the first time.
01:32
Aerial view of China’s new Shenzhen-Zhongshan mega link
Aerial view of China’s new Shenzhen-Zhongshan mega link
Xi, in a congratulatory note released hours before the link opened at 3pm, said the crossing was another record-breaking engineering project in the same vein as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
Advertisement