The Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge Project opens to traffic at the end of the month, cutting the travel time from downtown Shanghai to Chongming Island to about 90 minutes from 150 minutes it takes now. The project, linking Pudong New Area and Chongming Island via Changxing Island, extends 25.5 kilometers. It comprises a tunnel running under the Yangtze River and a cable-stay bridge (pictured) over the water.

A Ride from downtown Shanghai to the Chongming Island will be nearly halved to a little more than one hour, when Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge Project opens to traffic at the end of the month.

The project, linking Pudong New Area and Chongming Island via Changxing Island, extends 25.5 kilometers.

It comprises a tunnel running under Changjiang from eastern Pudong's Wuhaogou area to Changxing Island. A cable-stay bridge will link Changxing to Chongming Island.

A ride in smooth traffic from Pudong to Chongming Island takes only about 30 minutes, compared to the current 90 minutes.

Two public bus routes using the tunnel-bridge project to Chongming Island will be launched next month. The routes - one starting from Gonghexing Road in Puxi, and the other from the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in Pudong - will cost 12 yuan (US$1.76).

The tunnel-bridge complex is part of a broader Shanghai-Chongming-Jiangsu connection project that will connect downtown Shanghai, Chongming Island and Jiangsu Province with bridges, tunnels and highways.

A six-lane Chongming-Qidong Expressway, extending 53 kilometers, is being built to join the tunnel-bridge project on Chongming Island north to the Nanjing-Nantong-Qidong Expressway in Qidong, Jiangsu Province.