Work began yesterday on a tunnel beneath the Bund which will do
away with an elevated highway ramp and a 16-year-old floodgate
bridge in Shanghai.
Until November 7 there will be a partial ban on vehicles on the
section of Yan'an Road E between Jiangxi Road S and Zhongshan Road
E1 for infrastructure construction, the municipal engineering
Website announced yesterday.
"We haven't decided when and how to remove the ramp and bridge,"
Zhang Xiaopan, an official of the Shanghai Engineering
Administrative Bureau, said yesterday.
He said the works on Yan'an Road E will include moving
underground utility pipes but it was not known when the tunnel
itself will be built.
Officials said the central part of the road section will be
closed for construction and vehicles will have to use two temporary
lanes close to the sidewalks.
In a March meeting, the city government announced it would build
a tunnel below Zhongshan Road E1 to ease traffic congestion.
According to the plan, most vehicles in the area will have to
use the tunnel while the roadways above ground will be restricted
to buses and pedestrians.
Overall, the project will see the construction of 4,410 meters
of underground roads along the riverside Bund area in Huangpu
District and the neighboring Hongkou District.
Because of the project the Wusong Road Floodgate Bridge over the
Suzhou Creek near the Huangpu River will be replaced by a tunnel
linking the roads to the north, engineers said.
Similarly, the eastern exit ramp of the Yan'an Elevated Road,
though famous for its scenic views by night, will also be
demolished and a transitional tunnel will be built between the
elevated road and underground passage.
About two years ago, a brand new floodgate was built in front of
the bridge. The 50-meter span, which was constructed in 1991 to
help in flood control and forms an attractive weir between the two
rivers, is no longer needed.
Cai Yifeng, a senior engineer of Shanghai Transportation
Planning Institute, said: "The project will be completed in time
for the World Expo."
Engineers say since new technology will be used and only
sections of Bund will be affected during the construction
period.
(Shanghai Daily September 18, 2007)
