Russia to China by bridge

The first ever bridge to link Russia and China together by road has been completed according to Russian officials.

The bridge – known as the River Amur bridge – connects the city of Blagoveshchensk in far east Russia with Heihe in northeastern China.

The intention for building the bridge has been to increase the volume of freight traffic between the two countries.

Russia’s Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic said last week that the bridge is due to open to traffic in spring 2020.

Construction of the bridge, which runs over the Amur River, involved the creation of more than 20km worth of new roads and was carried out by a Russo-Chinese company.

Vasily Orlov, the Amur region’s governor, on the Russian side, said, “We are forming a new international transport corridor,” which he elaborated would, “allow us to fully reach our transit potential.”

Russian state news agency TASS reported in January that the construction of the bridge started in 2016 and at the time it was estimated that the construction would cost 18.8 billion Rubles.

In 2020, a cross border cable car that will travel between Heihe and Blagoveshchensk is also scheduled to open.

The journey time for passengers aboard the cable car will be approximately seven and a half minutes.