Cross-Straits bridge takes step toward completion

The Pingtan cross-Straits road-rail bridge, China's first cross-sea rail-road bridge, has taken another step toward completion.

The bridge's section in the island county of Pingtan off the coast of East China's Fujian province was completed on Wednesday.

The road-rail bridge is 16.34 kilometers in length.

It has a six-lane expressway for vehicles traveling 100 kilometers per hour and a high-speed railway designed to support bullet trains traveling as fast as 200 kilometers per hour. 

All the sections of the bridge are expected to be connected around October this year.

After the completion of the bridge, Pingtan and Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, will form a half-hour "economic circle".

According to the China Railway Construction Corporation, the company building the bridge, they have overcome various challenges and severe meteorological, hydrological and geological problems such as strong winds, deep water and high waves since construction began at the end of 2013.

Lin Cencen and Chen Jiadan contributed to the story.