Construction of an imposing double-tower cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River was launched Wednesday at Nantong, a medium-size booming city in east China's Jiangsu province.
The bridge's main span will be 1,088 meters (3,569 feet) in length, about 200 meters (656 feet) longer than the world's longest in Japan, and the double towers will reach an unprecedented height of 298 meters (978 feet). The bridge will be able to resist wind speeds of 47 meters (154 feet) per second, much stronger than typhoon-strength, according to experts.
After a decade of engineering appraisals and studies conducted out by more than 100 Chinese and foreign experts, the Chinese central government approved the construction of the bridge, which will require a total investment of 6.27 billion yuan (US$755 million) and it is expected to open to traffic at the end of 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2002)
