"Upon the opening of the project to traffic, the travel time from Nansha to Dongguan and Shenzhen in the eastern part of the Pearl River will be cut to merely half an hour, further accelerating the integrated development of the GBA," Wen said.

　　It currently takes about an hour for vehicles traveling from Nansha to reach Dongguan and Shenzhen, he said.

　　Stretching approximately 35 kilometers, Shiziyang Link starts from Nansha and terminates in Humen and Shatian towns of Dongguan, according to Wen.

　　The project consists of the river-crossing main bridge and land approach bridges. It is the first double-deck composite highway passage at the Pearl River estuary and the world's first double-deck steel truss suspension bridge with a main span exceeding 2,000 meters.

　　The state-of-the-art bridge is a global leader in several key specifications, including the 130-meter diameter of its anchorage foundations, the 342-meter height of its steel plate composite main towers, the 2,180-meter span of its double-deck suspension bridge, the 1.5-meter diameter of its main cables and its number of lanes — 16 lanes in total, arranged as two-way traffic on two decks.

　　Construction of the bridge began in 2023. It is another mega infrastructure project spanning the Pearl River estuary, following the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link.

　　As a landmark transportation project during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), Shiziyang Link will, upon completion, form a cluster of river-crossing and sea-spanning passages together with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link and Nansha Bridge.

　　"Together with surrounding road and highway networks, it will foster a one-hour metropolitan circle and boost in-depth connectivity within the GBA, including the nine Guangdong cities plus the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions," Wen said.