The construction of the world's longest cross-sea bridge, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, will be finished next year and opened to traffic in June 2008.

The 36km-long bridge will shorten the travel distance between Ningbo in Zhejiang province and Shanghai by over 120 kilometers, expediting economic integration of the Yangtze River Delta.

It will connect Haiyan in the northern part of Zhejiang province with Cixi in Ningbo in the southern part of Zhejiang province, promoting the development of Ningbo by providing convenient transportation.

With a total investment of 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion), the bridge has six lanes in both directions and is designed to last more than 100 years.

To facilitate the development of Ningbo-Shanghai-Hangzhou transportation links, the bridge is also expected to spur the development of the Hangzhou Bay rim industrial belt.

It will also link up existing development zones and industrial parks of various types to form three large coastal, bayside and roadside industrial belts.