The Chinese mainland’s first undersea tunnel opened to traffic this week in the southeastern province of Fujian. The motorway tunnel links Xiamen Island with Xiang’an District to the north.
The 8.7km Xiang’an Tunnel, 6km of which is under the sea, cost CNY 3.2bn (USD 468.8M) took four years and eight months to build, and goes to a maximum depth of 70m.
The tunnel has a maximum cross section of 170m2, and consists of three tubes (17.5m wide and 13.5m high) with one for maintenance and emergency use, and the other two each containing a three-lane motorway.
