The Ningbo−Zhoushan Expressway (), commonly referred to as the Yongzhou Expressway (), is an expressway in

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

which links

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

Zhoushan Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay off the mainland c ...

. In the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) in China, the number of this highway is G9211. The expressway derives its name from the combination of two one-character Chinese abbreviations of both Ningbo and Zhoushan (Ningbo−Yong, Zhoushan−Zhou). Starting from the Qianyang hub on the Ningbo Ring Expressway and ending on the National Highway G329 at Yadanshan Dock, the road can be divided into two parts. The first section which was opened to traffic at the end of 2010, starts from the Qianyang hub and ends at the Jiaochuan hub, which is shared with the Ningbo Ring Expressway. The second section starts from the Jiaochuan hub and ends at the Yadanshan Dock. It contains 5 cross-sea bridges, and was opened to traffic on December 25, 2009.

Construction history

The section from Jiaochuan to Yadanshan was called The Project Connecting Zhoushan Islands and Mainland, which have a length of 48 kilometers, the largest project that connects islands with mainland in China.(Chinese
中国规模最大岛陆联络工程舟山跨海大桥通车
/ref> The first phase of the project began construction in September 1999 and open to traffic on January 1, 2006. It comprises three bridges: Cengang Bridge, Xiangjiaomen Bridge and

Taoyaomen Bridge The Taoyaomen Bridge (Traditional Chinese: 桃夭門大橋, Simplified Chinese: 桃夭门大桥, Pinyin: táo yāo mén dà qiáo), is a cable-stayed bridge located in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province of the People's Republic of China, PRC, that crosse ...

. The second phase was endorsed by NDRC in China and began construction on May 20. On December 25, 2009, both phases was open to traffic.(Chinese
架千岛彩虹建连岛大桥
The section from Qianyang to Baoguosi have a length of 7 kilometers, began construction in 2005 and finished on December 26, 2007. The section from Baoguosi to Jiaochuanhave a length of 13 kilometers, began construction on February 27, 2008 and finished in the end of 2010.

Cross-sea bridges

Yongzhou Expressway comprises 5 cross-sea bridges connecting

Zhoushan Island Zhoushan Island is the principal and namesake island in the Zhoushan Islands, formerly romanized as the ChusanIslands, an archipelago administered by Zhoushan Prefecture in Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the provinc ...

, Lidiao Island, Fuchi Island, Cezi Island,

Jintang Island Jintang Island (金塘岛) is an island in the Zhoushan prefecture-level city in China's eastern Zhejiang province. It has a population of about 41700.

and the mainland. Jintang Bridge is the third longest cross-sea bridge in China, after

Hangzhou Bay Bridge Hangzhou Bay Bridge () is a long highway bridge with two separate cable-stayed bridge, cable-stayed portions, built across the mouth of Hangzhou Bay in the eastern coastal region of China. It connects the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Z ...

and

Donghai Bridge Donghai Bridge ( Chinese: t , s , p ''Dōnghǎi Dàqiáo'', Wu ''Tonhe Dujiau'' " East Sea Bridge") is a Chinese bridge counted among the longest cross-sea bridges in the world. It was completed on December 10, ...

. It is also the longest

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

built on the sea. Xihoumen Bridge is the second longest

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

in the world, after the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan.

Cengang bridge

Cengang bridge is the first bridge in the project. Crossing Cengang waterway, the bridge connects Zhoushan Island with Lidiao Island. The length of the bridge is 793 meters and the bridge has 4 lanes of traffic.

Xiangjiaomen Bridge

Xiangjiaomen Bridge, the second bridge in the project, crosses Xiangjiaomen waterway. The bridge connects Lidiao Island with Fuchi Island. With a length of 951 meters and four lanes of traffic, the bridge has a span of 150 meters. Ships of up to 500 tons of displacement can navigate under the bridge safely.

Taoyaomen Bridge

Taoyaomen Bridge is the third bridge in the project. Ships of up to 2000 tons of displacement can navigate under the bridge safely. Xihoumen Bridge in Zhoushan

Xihoumen Bridge

Xihoumen Bridge is the fourth bridge in the project. The construction work began in May 2004. The bridge is designed as a suspension bridge and it has the second longest span in the world. Ships of up to 30000 tons of displacement can go navigate under the bridge safely.

Jintang Bridge

Jintang Bridge, the fifth in order is the longest in length of all the bridges in the project. The length of the bridge is 18.5 kilometers. It is the third longest cross-sea bridge built in China. Major ships pass in between the two 620 meter high bridge towers. Ships of up to 50000 tons of displacement can navigate under the bridge safely.

Accidents involving ships

Bridges in Yongzhou Expressway are built on straits near the Port of Ningbo, where there is a high volume of sea traffic. Three collisions occurred during the construction of the expressway. On March 28, 2008, a cargo ship registered in Taizhou collided with Jintang Bridge. Part of the bridge was destroyed and four people were killed by falling debris. On January 6, 2009, a construction ship registered in

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

collided with the Taoyaomen Bridge, however, there was no significant damage. On November 16, a ship from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

collided with the Jintang Bridge. Though the damage was only minor, the accident delayed the opening of the expressway from November 22 until December 25.

Controversies

Island entrance fee

After the expressway was opened to traffic, every vehicle traveling on the expressway from Jiaochuan to Zhoushan was required to pay RMB 10 as the Zhoushan Island Vehicle Fee (also called island entrance fee by local residents). It raised disputes in

. The administrators state that this fee is used for compensating the construction expenditure of roads in

, especially the expressway. As of June 2010,

residents are free from this toll, but vehicles from other regions still need to pay the fee.

Speed limitations

Given the road condition, the speed limitation from

to Lidiao toll gate is 60 km/h while the speed limitation from Lidiao to Cezi toll gate is 80 km/h, which also raises dispute because of the high toll. It is said that the expressway is now under maintenance for higher speed.(Chinese
为车辆通行提速跨海大桥护栏改造

Route

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" , + ! scope="col" , Location ! scope="col" , km ! scope="col" , Number ! scope="col" , Name ! scope="col" , Destination ! scope="col" width="50%" , Notes , - , rowspan="8" ,

Dinghai District Dinghai () is a district of Zhoushan City made of 128 islands in Zhejiang province, China. The total area is 1,444 square kilometres. The land area is 568.8 square kilometres, the sea area is 875.2 square kilometres, and the coastline is more tha ...

, 0 , (1) , Zhoushan (舟山)
''Also known as''
Shuangqiao (双桥) , National Highway 329 , , - , 11 , (2) , style="background-color: #ffffff" , Cengang (岑港) , Xicen Line , Only available for vehicles heading to Ningbo. No exits available. , - , 12 , (3) , colspan="2" , Lidiao Island (里钓) , Cengang Bridge connects Cengang and Lidiao Island. Only available for vehicles coming from Ningbo direction (exit) or heading to Ningbo (entrance). , - , 13 , (4) , colspan="2" , Fuchi Island (富翅) , Xiangjiaomen Bridge connects Lidiao Island and Fuchi Island , - , 13 , (5) , Cezi (册子) , Beitao Line ,

connects Fuchi Island and Cezi Island , - , 16 , (6) , Jintang (金塘) , Dongdong Line , Xihoumen Bridge connects Cezi Island and Jintang , - , 16 , AB-Tank

, colspan="2" , Jintang Service Area (金塘服务区) , Jitang Service Area locates outside the toll area of the expressway. It provides a panoramic view of Xihoumen Bridge as well as a museum exhibiting the construction process and techniques used in building these cross-sea bridges. , - , 20 , (7) , Ligang (沥港) , Road towards Jintang Harbor , , - , rowspan="4" ,

Zhenhai District Zhenhai is a district and former county of Ningbo city in Zhejiang Province in eastern China. It has a population of 200,000. History Zhenhai’s city walls previously covered a circuit of and rose to . The British captured Zhenhai on 10 O ...

, style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 48 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , (8) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Jiaochuan (蛟川) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , China Expwy G1501 sign no name

Ningbo Ring Expressway
East Outer Ring Road
Zhenhai Avenue , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Jintang Bridge connects Jiaochuan and Ligang. Concurrency with G1501 Ningbo Ring Expressway starts in this station. , - , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 54 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , (9) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Shahe (沙河) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Century Avenue , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , , - , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 54 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , AB-Tank

, style="background-color: #ddffdd" colspan="2" , Zhenhai Service Area (镇海服务区) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Zhenhai Service Area and Shahe exit shares one exit. , - , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 58 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , (10) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Jiulong Lake (九龙湖) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Jiulong Avenue , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , , - , rowspan="2" , Jiangbei District,

, style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 61 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , (11) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Baoguo Temple , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Ningbo Airport Highway (unbuilt) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , , - , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , 68 , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , (12) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Ningbo North (宁波北)
''Also known as''
Qianyang (前洋) , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , China Expwy G15 sign no name

Shenhai Expressway Shenhai may refer to: *''Blue Cha Cha'' (深海; Shēnhǎi), 2005 Taiwanese film directed by Chen Wen-tang * ''Deep Sea'' (film) (深海; Shēnhǎi), 2023 Chinese animated film directed by Tian Xiaopeng *G15 Shenyang–Haikou Expressway The Shen ...

Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway The Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway (), officially the Hangzhou Bay Region Ring Expressway () and designated G92, Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China. Mark rules of highway route and number of national trunk highway (GB/T ...

Ningbo Ring Expressway
North Outer Ring Road , style="background-color: #ddffdd" , Concurrency with G1501 Ningbo Ring Expressway ends in this station. This station also concurrent with G15 Shenyang-Haikou Expressway and G92 Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:G9211 Ningbo-Zhoushan Expressway Chinese national-level expressways Expressways in Zhejiang Zhoushan Transport in Ningbo