A bird's view of the Zhoushan Sea-crossing Bridge which connects Zhoushan and Ningbo and reached its 10th anniversary on Dec 25 [Photo/zjol.com.cn]
The Zhoushan Sea-crossing Bridge in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, reached its 10th anniversary on Dec 25.
The bridge is an important part of a highway connecting Zhoushan and Ningbo, another prefecture-level city in the province.
Over the past 10 years, the number of vehicles that crossed the bridge amounted to more than 60 million. The highest daily traffic flow during this period was 75,288.
The bridge has made a great difference in Zhoushan, helping the city attract more tourists and thus boost the local economy.
According to an official at the Zhoushan municipal bureau of statistics, in 2009, the city received about 17.5 million tourists and attained approximately 15.5 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in tourism revenue, while the figures surged to over 70 million and 100 billion respectively in 2019.
In 2009, the gross domestic product of the city was only 54 billion yuan, but the figure surpassed 100 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year.
"After the bridge was opened to the public, the number of guests in my restaurant has increased by one-third," said Wang Haifen, the owner of a restaurant in Shengjiamen Fishing Port Town, which is a famous cluster for the fishery industry. "Some of them even drove here through the night, just for one meal."
Xia Yujian, general manager of Zhejiang Huaye Plastics Machinery Co, said: "Before the bridge was built, deliveries of our products mainly depended on cargo ships. But thanks to the bridge, the deliveries have become safer and more efficient, and our company's market competitiveness has grown stronger."
The Zhoushan-based company, which was established in 1987, has developed into a leading manufacturer of screws, barrels and tie bars in China.
The city also attaches great importance to the supervision of the bridge and has built several monitoring and pre-warning systems in a bid to ensure transportation safety on it.
