Aizhai Bridge officially opens to traffic

Jishou (CNS) -- Aizhai Bridge near Jishou City in Hunan Province officially opened to traffic on March 31, bearing the distinction of being the world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge. It also marks the completion of the more than 800 kilometer stretch of Xiangyu Expressway between Changsha City and Chongqing City.

Aizhai Bridge is a suspension bridge made of steel trusses, with a main span of 1,176 meters. It was built with the assistance of a U$208 million loan from the Asian Development Bank. The loan also funded 64 kilometers (40 mi) of expressway construction and upgrades to 129 kilometers of local roadways.

The bridge not only extends the beautiful views of nearby mountains, but more importantly, cut the Jishou-to-Chadong travel time from four hours to less than one hour.

With the completion of the Xiangyu Expressway, it now only takes eight hours to motor from Changsha to Chongqing.