A 14.5-kilometer causeway, the longest of its kind in China, was completed and opened to traffic Saturday in China's eastern coastal city of Wenzhou, marking a key step for the city's expansion and development.

The north Lingni Causeway links Niyu island, outside the Oujiang River estuary where Wenzhou is located, to the mainland via Lingkun island. It is part of the city's plan to double the size of its current downtown, said Wang Jianman, secretary of Wenzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Construction of the causeway began in April 2003 and cost nearly 700 million yuan (86 million U.S. dollars) to complete. The foundation is 210 meters wide while the road way is 10.5 meters wide. It was made with over 6 million cubic meters of earth and stone.

The city also has plans to build a south Lingni causeway which together with the north causeway will enclose a 8,500-hectare shoal. It will eventually in-fill between the two causeways making new land for development.

Wenzhou, home to nearly 4,000 shoemakers, is a manufacturing powerhouse in East China's Zhejiang Province, which has seen rapid economic development over the past 20 years.

Source: Xinhua