THE eastern expressway linking Shenzhen and Hong Kong via Liantang Checkpoint will be finished by 2014.
The 32.8-kilometer six-lane expressway will link eastern Guangdong and adjacent provinces, Fujian and Jiangxi, via the Shenzhen-Huizhou and Shenzhen-Shantou expressways. It will also link Hong Kong s Tolo Highway via Fanling Highway after the checkpoint opens, improving the overall transport network of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the Shenzhen transport commission said recently in its Five-Year Program.
Costing 6.18 billion yuan (US$944 million), the expressway is a key project in the development plan for the Pearl River Delta approved by the State Council.
The first 31-km phase includes more than 20 kilometers of tunnels and bridges. Six interchange flyovers along the expressway will connect with roads in the east of the province. It will pass through Wutong Mountain, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden and run adjacent to Shenzhen Reservoir.
After Liantang Checkpoint opens in 2018, the travel time from Hong Kong to eastern Shenzhen will be cut by half an hour. The eastern expressway is expected to divert nearly one-third of cross-border vehicles and will play an important role in Hong Kong s transport link with Shenzhen and southern China. (Han Ximin)
