Time for a drive from Huadu and Qingyuan to Guangzhou is expected to be cut by half an hour after a viaduct connecting Guangqing Expressway with Huangcheng Expressway is built.

Construction of the flyover will be competed by the end of December and the flyover will open to traffic before the Spring Festival of 2005.

At present it would take about 36 minutes driving from Huadu, a district of Guangzhou, and Qingyuan City, to downtown Guangzhou. The journey would be shortened to six minutes after the viaduct is put into use.

The viaduct is part of a broader project to connect the two expressways. The whole project consists of the viaduct, a six-layer flyover, and two sections of city highway. The six-lane viaduct and the eight-lane highway will run parallel for nearly six kilometers, providing enough lanes for smooth traffic within the next 20 years.

The whole project, to cost 1.28 billion yuan (US$155 million) , will be completed by the end of next June.

Authorities urged motorists to avoid using Zengcha Road, where the viaduct project is going on, in November and December.

In another development, the extension of Keyun Road will be open to traffic by the end of December. The project will help ease traffic jams from the University Town to Xinxiao Road South.

Highway authorities also revealed the Xinguang Bridge will be completed by the end of next year.

Editor: Olivia