After nearly four years of construction, China's longest underwater highway tunnel is now open to vehicle traffic.

The Taihu tunnel spans for 10.79 kilometers (6.65 miles) beneath Lake Taihu in eastern China's Jiangsu Province,

, roughly 50 kilometers east of Shanghai.According to Jiangsu government officials,

, the tunnel cost 9.9 billion yuan (about $1.56 billion).

. On January 9, 2018, work on the project began, according to China's official news agency, Xinhua,

, almost 2 million cubic meters of concrete were used to construct the two-way tunnel,

which has six lanes and is 17.45 meters wide.The tunnel's ceiling has been illuminated with colorful LED lights to reduce driver fatigue.

The 43.9-kilometer Changzhou-Wuxi Highway, was opened to the public on December 30, 2021, includes the tunnel.

It offers tourists traveling between Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu's capital, an alternate highway

It was developed to relieve traffic congestion in the cities surrounding Lake Taihu

while also encouraging the economic development of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta area.

. It connects the expressways of Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou.

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