A worker inspecting the newly completed Wuhan Yangtze River tunnel in central Wuhan city yesterday.

The road tunnel, China's first beneath the Yangtze River, will start a three-month trial operation tomorrow.

The 3.6km, two-way and four-lane road tunnel would cut travel time to seven minutes from 30 minutes between the city's major areas - Wuchang, where government offices and universities are based, and Hankou, the business centre.

The tunnel will allow 50,000 vehicles to travel at 50 kmh each day and can withstand flooding and an earthquake measuring up to six on the Richter scale.

The 1.7 billion yuan (S$359 million) project began in November 2004 as one of the city's efforts to improve transport infrastructure and relieve congested roads.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 27, 2008.

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