THE Mawan Undersea Tunnel, a key demonstration project for interconnectivity and transportation infrastructure in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, officially began operations yesterday.

As the city’s first undersea tunnel, the two-way, six-lane passage will be mainly used for cargo traffic at the Mawan, Chiwan, and Shekou ports. It is expected to ease traffic congestion in Qianhai.

Freight traffic moving in and out of the Nanshan port area will be diverted to the passage, effectively separating it from passenger traffic in Qianhai and the Bao’an CBD and greatly improving the urban environment in those areas.

According to Jin Xuehua, manager of the Mawan project at the China Railway South Investment Group Co. Ltd., the tunnel will bring great convenience to local residents in surrounding areas.

The tunnel begins at the intersection of Mawan and Yueliangwan boulevards in the Mawan area and ends at the intersection of the Guangshen (Guangzhou-Shenzhen) Riverside Expressway’s Dachan Bay Tollgate, Jinwan Boulevard, and Xixiang Boulevard in Bao’an District.

Spanning 8.05 kilometers, it includes a 2.5-kilometer road in Qianhai, a 1.1-kilometer undersea tunnel, and a 4.45-kilometer road in the Dachan Bay area.

It is China’s largest diameter undersea tunnel project. A boring machine with a diameter of 15 meters, jointly developed by Germany-based Herrenknecht AG and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd., was used for the excavation of the tunnel.

(Han Ximin)