China on Monday (December 29) opened the first road tunnel beneath the Yangtze river for traffic. Announcing the news, the provincial government informed that the authorities have also planned to build two more such tunnels under the Yangtze river. The construction work of the second tunnel is expected to start soon. After setting up the second tunnel, it will be part of the No. 2 subway line. It will be built 1,000 meters upstream of the first tunnel.

 

Informing more about the newly opened tunnel the report says that the 3.6-kilometre (2.2-mile) four-lane tunnel required an investment of 1.7-billion Yuan (250 million dollar). The tunnel is built to relieve traffic congestion in the central city of Wuhan, which has a population of eight million people. The tunnel reduces travel time between the two areas from a half-hour to seven minutes.

 

Meanwhile, the third tunnel, whose route is still under discussion, will divert traffic from the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge on the river.  It is a dual highway-rail facility bridge. Yangtze River measuring nearly 6,400 km (4,000 mile) is Asia's longest river and the world's third-longest after the Nile and the Amazon. The river runs from northwest Qinghai province into the East China Sea at Shanghai