11-kilometer Taihu Lake tunnel starts building in Wuxi

The red dotted line shows the Changzhou-Wuxi section in Wuxi, a project that will be the longest sub-lake tunnel in China. [photo / wxrb.com]

Size and road regulations: the tunnel is a six-lane highway with vehicles travelling the Qian Huang hub to Ma Shan section able to reach speeds of 120 km/h. Vehicles travelling the Ma Shan to Nan Quan section must drive at speeds under 10 kilometers per hour.

Investment: Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou highway is Wuxi’s the largest independent investment infrastructure project. Total investment in the Ma Shan subproject is estimated to reach to 15.91 billion yuan ($2.36 billion) of which Wuxi section costs 10.37 billion yuan, and Changzhou section are5.54 billion yuan.

Features: The Taihu Lake tunnel project is an important part of Changzhou-Wuxi section. The tunnel requires advanced engineering techniques considering it bores deep below Taihu Lake and the nearly 11 kilometer construction will be the widest tunnel under a lake across China when completed.

Completion time: it is expected to open by the end of 2021.