China’s state planning and development council, the country’s highest decision making body, has approved plans to build an 8.5km long tunnel as part of a US$1.5bn island resort scheme in Shanghai. Shanghai’s Municipal Planning Project Administration proposed the scheme.
The tunnel would connect Shanghai’s Pudong district with Changxing island in the middle of the Yangtze river. The scheme also includes a 9.5km bridge between the Changxing and Chongming islands and a 7km elevated highway on Changxing.
Chongming, which covers an area of 1,083km2, is about 40km from downtown Shanghai and is currently served by a two-hour ferry service from Shanghai.
