China's first road tunnel beneath the Yangtze River will start a three-month trial operation on Sunday in central China's Wuhan City.

The 3.6-km, bi-directional four-lane road tunnel would cut travel time to seven minutes from half an hour between the city's major areas -- Wuchang, where government offices and universities are based, and Hankou, the business center.

Workers have almost completed paving bitumen, cleaning the road and wall as well as laying traffic signs. An exercise for letting out smoke and evacuating passengers will be held before the trial operation, Wuhan vice mayor Yin Weizhen said on Wednesday.

The three-month trial will start after the advanced evacuation and fire-prevention measures are installed.

The tunnel will allow 50,000 vehicles to travel at 50 kilometers per hour each day. It can withstand flooding (300 year-flood plain) and an earthquake measuring up to six on the Richter scale, Yin said.

The 1.7-billion yuan (US$250 million) project began in November 2004 as one of the city's efforts to improve transportation infrastructure and relieve congested roads.

Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, is one of the largest cities in central China with a population of eight million. It is the center of five railway lines, six expressways and several highways. The city serves as the gateway to China's hinterlands and is nicknamed the "thoroughfare to nine provinces".

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2008)