Expressway of Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge opens

2021-07-01 15:18:00

The expressway section of the Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge, China's first road-rail suspension bridge, opened on June 30.

Li Hongtao, project manager of the Jiangsu Provincial Transport Construction Department, said the success means a new connection through the province’s central areas and faster link to two highways to Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.

The expressway features extensive application of new technologies, such as 5G, BIM, Big Data, Internet of Things and cloud computing, in over 20 scenarios. This leads to sophisticated functions of driving guide on foggy days, automated de-icing system and traffic jam response.

Wang Jia, assistant researcher at Yangzhou University's Central Jiangsu Development Institute, said the expressway will further reduce the cost of transportation, promote connectivity between cities in the north and south of Jiangsu, facilitate the flow of goods, people and other production factors. The expressway will also contribute to the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and forming of regional industrial clusters.

Meilong Aviation, a company located in the Zhenjiang New District south of the bridge, is engaged in the design and manufacture of high-performance composite materials. Sheng Junwu, assistant to the company’s chairman, said that the better transportation contributes to the reduction of warehousing and logistics costs and helps attract talents and boost contact with customers in central and northern Jiangsu.

The bridge integrates an eight-lane expressway on the upper deck and a high-speed railway on the lower deck. The railway opened in last December.