¡¡¡¡The recent completion of Sutong bridge, the world¡¯s largest cable-stayed bridge as opened to public service on May 25th, will further strengthen the economic relationship between Suzhou, Ningbo, Nantong and Shanghai in Southeast China. Besides changing the geographical pattern of the urban area, the bridge will have a far-reaching influence on the development and positioning of cities and ports along both the seacoast and Yangtze River in the region. Nantong city in particular will thus be able to gain more direct access to southern China by land and meet greater development opportunities.

¡¡¡¡Bridge Location

¡¡¡¡The Sutong Bridge is located at the Chengong watercourse of Yangtze River, an S-shaped river with a varying width between 6 kilometres and 14 kilometres wide, and a maximum depth of approximately 50metres. The bridge will span the 6 kilometres -wide river near Xuliujing. The Yangtze River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, situated close to the river mouth by the Yellow Sea. The bridge will be 280 kilometres west of Nanjing, 90kilomitres from the Yangtze River Bridge in Jiangyin and 100 kilometres east of the Yangtze River estuary.
¡¡¡¡Jiangsu province is an important, growing, industrial region in China. The bridge joins the Nantong-Qidong section (under construction) of the Ningbo-Qidong Expressway, as well as other coastal expressways in the north. In the south, the bridge will link up with the Shanghai-Ningbo Expressway, the Suzhou-Jiaxing-Hangzhou Expressway (under construction), and other highways that follow the Yangtze River.
¡¡¡¡There is currently an annual increase of 15% of traffic users crossing the Yangtze River in the Jiangsu region. In Nantong, this increase is as much as 20% annually. Forward predictions of traffic numbers crossing the river in the Nantong area (per day) is 41,432 in 2005, increasing to 70,624 by 2014, and 89,556 in 2025. There are currently four car ferries crossing the river in this region ¡§C these traffic increases are clearly too much for these ferries to manage. The ferry journey takes 1hr ¡§C once the bridge is completed this journey time will be five minutes.

¡¡¡¡Bridge Brings Economy¡¯s Development

¡¡¡¡Quick expansion of the bridge¡¯s advantages will help improve the port¡¯s contact with the outside world and get it increasingly integrated into the Yangtze delta.
¡¡¡¡¡°Sutong bridge on the Yangtze connects the national expressway from Shenyang to Haikou, and joins the road network of Central and Northern Jiangsu with that of Shanghai and South Jiangsu, including both waterways and highways,¡± said Fan Chaoli, Deputy Director of the Research Office of Jiangsu Province.
¡¡¡¡From the angle of investment, Liu Jingfang, Chairman of the Commercial Chamber of Taiwan, says the value of investing in Nantong is growing fast. Even in the period of construction, there has been a gradual increase in investment in the area. And completion of the bridge has cut travel to the downtown area of Shanghai to around just one hour, a condition revealing that it will be better benefited from the economic development and industrial transformation of Shanghai.
¡¡¡¡Sutong bridge will help Central Jiangsu to catch up with Southern Jiangsu economically, and promote the industrial upgrading of Southern Jiangsu, added You Qingzhong, head of the Dept. of Transportation of Jiangsu Province.
¡¡¡¡The opening of Sutong bridge and Hangzhouwan-Bridge will speed up the formation of a ¡°2-hour reach¡± circuit within the Yangtze delta, and create two small ¡°Golden Angles¡±: Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong and Shanghai-Ningbo and Hangzhou, like adding two wings to Shanghai.
¡¡¡¡According to Fan Chaoli, Sutong bridge will most probably cause a change in the positioning of Ningbo and Nantong, and put them in the former place of Hangzhou and Nanjing in cooperative function.

¡¡¡¡Complete Transport Conditions

¡¡¡¡The rise of a port is always closely connected with the continual enhancement of transport conditions. And the support of highways, including the bridges along them, constitutes also a vital guarantee for the healthy development of the economy. Ding Dawei, Mayor of Nantong, said ¡°Nantong is unique in that it is situated exactly where the Yangtze, the longest river in China, plunges into the sea, and is thus richly endowed with precious natural resources. We therefore must actively use the positive impact of Sutong bridge to lever Nantong onto the international stage¡±.
¡¡¡¡An artery along the southern shore of the Yangtze and a key point connecting northern and southern China, the opening of Sutong bridge will effectively promote the development of port side industries, modern logistics, for instance, and makes Nantong a valuable integrated multi-purpose port in between Lianyungang and Shanghai, quickening at the same time its integration of their respective resources.
¡¡¡¡As to business competition, Fan Chaoli said the relationship between Nantong and its neighbouring ports based on cooperative competition. Nantong port will be engaged more in bulk transport than in container service, and will not run into serious conflicts with Shanghai port, Ningbo port or Lianyungang port.
¡¡¡¡Having laid a very good industrial foundation, the launch of Sutong bridge will further push forward the development of modern logistics, better facilitate the flow of people, materials, capital and information, and more efficiently optimise their distribution within the delta.

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¡¡¡¡Including both the river-spanning bridge and connections on the northern and southern shores, Sutong bridge runs 32.4 kilometres in full length through Nantong city and Changshu city of Jiangsu province. The structure directly over the river reaches 8,146 metres in length as against a main span of 1,088 metres, a northern connection of 15.1 kilometres and a southern connection of 9.2 kilometres, raising a new world record in cable length, the length of main span, the depth of foundations and the height of bridge tower. The net height of the bridge is 62 metres and its width 891 metres. The main navigationasl opening is 62 meters in net height and 891 metres wide, allowing the passage of 50,000-ton container ships and 48,000-ton vessels.
¡¡¡¡Natural Conditions: each year the area has on average 30 days of heavy fog, more than 120 days of heavy rain (typhoon), and frequent tornados with associated high wind speeds. And the river has varying flow speeds and directions and depths vary as the river is tidal ¡§C the maximum design average flow passing through the river cross section is 4.01m/s .Besides, the bedrock is at a depth of 270 metres, which is covered by sediment and silt.