China’s longest underwater highway tunnel – the Jiaozhou Bay Subsea Tunnel will become the theme of China’s first museum for undersea tunnels in Qingdao, Shandong.

Opened on Sept 21, the Qingdao Subsea Tunnel Museum displays the planning, daily operation and maintenance of the Jiaozhou Bay Subsea Tunnel, and the changes the tunnel brought to Qingdao’s cross-sea transportation. It also offer a summary of the history of subsea tunnel construction, and the technologies used in this specific area of engineering at a 930-square-meter exhibition hall.

The interior design of the museum reflects the texture of the rocks on the inside of the tunnel, with shades of reddish brown used as the main color element of the design. Vivid reliefs accentuate the artful atmosphere at the museum.

Nearly 1,000 exhibits on show include drawing sheets, historical photos, and large amounts of documents recording the construction and operation of the tunnel, which serve as useful references for future constructions, and make the museum a platform for industry-specific exchange.

Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Qian Qihu, and co-founder of the Associated Research Centers for the Urban Underground Space, Raymond Sterling, visited the museum while they were in Qingdao for the fifth International Academic Conference of Underground Space.

The Jiaozhou Bay Subsea Tunnel was among the first undersea tunnels excavated in China. 4095 meters of its full length run across sea, making it the longest undersea highway tunnel in China. Its engineering and architecture achievements have been awarded by the Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize and the Luban Prize for China Construction Projects.

After running for six years, the tunnel has carried 70 million vehicles and 300 million persons, significantly easing the traffic between Huangdao district and the other five districts of the Qingdao city that are located on opposite sides of the Jiaozhou Bay. The infrastructure project therefore helped accelerate the integrated development of the city.

The constructor and operator of the tunnel is Qingdao Conson Development Group, a state-owned enterprise focusing on major urban development projects in the vibrant coastal city in Shandong.

Besides the undersea tunnel that opened in June 2011, Qingdao saw Shandong’s first subway service – Metro Line 3 – came into full use in Dec 2016. And the city will see more underground developments in the coming years, said its deputy mayor Yan Xijun at the underground space conference, including multiple metro services, inter-city rail services and a second undersea tunnel.