China’s Longest Underwater 6-lane Highway Tunnel Opens To Traffic

China’s longest underwater 6-lane highway tunnel opens to traffic on Thursday December 30th, 2021.

The 10.79 kilometers Taihu tunnel has six lanes and it part of the 43.9-kilometer Changzhou-Wuxi Highway.

It provides an alternative expressway for travelers journeying between Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu’s capital.

The two-way tunnel was built at a cost 9.9 billion yuan (about $1.56 billion). Construction began on January 9, 2018.

China’s longest underwater highway tunnel, the 10.79 kilometers (6.65 miles) Taihu tunnel, opened to vehicle traffic on Thursday December 30, 2021, after nearly four years of construction.

The Taihu tunnel is part of the 43.9-kilometer Changzhou-Wuxi Highway, which provides an alternative expressway for travelers journeying between Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu’s capital.

Connecting the expressways of Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, the new underwater highway was built to alleviate traffic pressure on the cities next to Lake Taihu.

Taihu tunnel has six lanes and is 17.45 meters wide, and it stretches under Lake Taihu in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, about 50 kilometers east of Shanghai.

• See Also : Question Of The Day : China’s Hongqi H9 VS Germany’s BMW 7-Series, Who Wears The Grille Better?

According to government officials in Jiangsu, the two-way tunnel was built at a cost 9.9 billion yuan (about $1.56 billion). Construction of the underwater highway began on January 9, 2018.

The world’s longest underwater highway tunnel remains the submerged portion of the Channel Tunnel, which connects England and France by rail. It runs for 37.9 kilometers, making it the longest of any underwater tunnel in the world.

There is also a 14.3-kilometer twin-road Ryfast tunnel in Norway, which runs between the city of Stavanger and the municipality of Strand.

Faroe Islands, a series of 18 Islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean, also has a new 11.2-km undersea road tunnel, which cuts travel time from 64 minutes to about 16 minutes.

• See Also : Faroe Islands New 11.2km Undersea Road Tunnel Cuts Travel Time From 64 Mins To 16 Mins, See Inside