The Shen-zhen Bay Bridge connecting Shenzhen and Hong Kong completed its construction on April 15 and will officially open to traffic on July 1, the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

Shenzhen Bay Bridge is one of the key projects in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong west corridor construction, and is also the fourth cross-border highway, after Luohu, Huangguang and Shatoujiao, connecting the two cities.

The west corridor is currently the biggest cross-border infrastructure project connecting mainland China and Hong Kong, including the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, Customs and both sides' connecting highways.

The 5,545-meter-long Shenzhen Bay Bridge has six lanes, and is expected to carry a maximum daily traffic of 58,600 vehicles. The new bridge will shorten the drive from Shenzhen, Shekou to Hong Kong to only 10 to 15 minutes.

After the Guangdong river-bank expressway opens to traffic, the driving distance between Guangzhou and Hong Kong will be cut down to only 100 km. This will result in an easier and more frequent flow of people, cargo and capital between Guangdong and Hong Kong.

The import and export business is expected to be most benefited by the west corridor. According to the Hong Kong government's assessment, the corridor will bring a net profit of 175 billion HKD before 2020.

The corridor will further reduce Shenzhen's traffic cost in import and export and accelerate the development of the city's modern logistics industry, a will-be pillar industry of the city according to its long-term plan.

The corridor will also erase Shenzhen's heavy reliance on its eastern customs connection with Hong Kong for cargo traffic, helping the all-round development of western Shenzhen. Thanks to this corridor, the Mawan, Chiwan and Shekou ports in western Shenzhen will together form a new logistic centre in the "Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Dongguan-Guangzhou" city cluster.

Guangzhou and Dongguan will also benefit from this cross-border infrastructure to further their cooperation with Hong Kong.

The new bridge is expected to boost western Hong Kong's economy, a now relatively "quiet" place measured by business and economy, and help Hong Kong in strengthening its role as the trade and logistic hub of Asia.   

Editor: Yan