Construction of the Yellow River Tunnel in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province is completed on Jan 23. It will greatly reduce the time required to cross the Yellow River by car. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Construction of the Yellow River Tunnel in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province was completed on Jan 23. The tunnel will open to traffic this October, local media reported.

After its opening, traveling across the Yellow River by car and metro will only take 4 and 2.5 minutes respectively. It currently takes nearly an hour to cross the river by car as it requires a detour to the Yellow River Bridge in Jinan.

A transverse picture of the Jinan Yellow River Tunnel. The tunnel has a diameter of 15.76 meters. [Photo/w.dzwww.com]

The tunnel, which spans 4,760 meters in length, has a double-shaft tunnel system and two layers, with the upper layer used as a two-way, six-lane highway and the lower layer reserved for subway trains.

The tunnel is expected to strengthen the connection between Jinan's northern new area and the main urban area, improve the transport functions of the new area and further promote the transformation of growth drivers from old to new ones.