The Chinese mainland's first undersea tunnel opened to traffic in Fujian Province on April 26.
The 8.7-km highway tunnel, 6 km of it under the sea with a maximum depth of 70 meters, links Xiamen Island to Xiang'an on the mainland. Designed for an average driving speed of 80 km an hour, the tunnel cuts travel time between the two areas from the previous one-and-a-half hours to eight minutes.
The tunnel boasts the world's largest cross-section with a maximum area of 170 square meters. The thoroughfare was independently designed and built in China. Costing 3.2 billion yuan ($468 million), the project took four years and eight months to build.