The Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze Road Bridge, the world’s largest cable-stayed bridge, has been formally opened in Jiangsu province after five years of construction.

The bridge has a span of 1,088 metres and links the important industrial cities of Nantong and Suzhou, 32km apart. It has three lanes each way and it joins the national highway network on the both banks.

The journey between Shanghai and Nantong now only takes one hour, compared with four hours previously, including a ferry trip. Prior to the formal opening ceremony, the bridge has been operating on a trial basis for one month, when there was a daily flow of 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles.

People’s Daily reported that the bridge cost Rmb7.89bn to build and was the most complicated ever constructed in China, setting several technical records.

Jiangsu has built many bridges over the Yangtze in recent years as it strives to improve economic conditions in the relatively undeveloped northern part of the province.