A new bridge across the Yangtze linking the riverside cities of Yangzhou and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province will open to traffic on May 1, local officials said over the weekend.

The 36-kilometer Runyang Bridge, connecting Yangzhou with an expressway to Shanghai on the south bank, is expected to usher in a new era of growth for Yangzhou, according to Vice Mayor Hong Jinhua.

It will take only three hours to drive to Shanghai, eliminating the need for the ferries upon which people have relied in the past. There are also slip roads linking the bridge to expressways to Beijing and Nanjing.

The suspension bridge, with a span 50 meters above the water, allows 50,000-ton cargo ships to pass underneath.

At present, there are about 60 bridges in operation across the Yangtze River.

Yangzhou, known for its elegant ancient gardens and balmy weather, was once a booming waterway hub along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The new bridge could help to make the city once again a transport center of affluent Jiangsu Province.

Last year, the city built a railway station with a nonstop luxury overnight train service to Beijing.

"Once the Runyang Bridge is completed there will be no obstacle to traveling in any direction from the city, and we'll have the chance to develop as much as Suzhou and Wuxi," said Li Jun, a Yangzhou citizen.

The city's per capita gross domestic product was around US$2,000 last year, compared with more than US$5,000 in Suzhou, which is an hour's drive west of Shanghai. The bridge will enable Yangzhou to integrate more closely with the Shanghai economic rim.

Yangzhou will hold an international trade and tourism festival from April 18 to May 18 to celebrate the opening of the bridge and to stimulate business.

The city won the China Human Settlements and Environment Award from the Ministry of Construction at the end of last year.

(China Daily April 12, 2005)