Qingdao's Jiaozhou Bay Undersea Tunnel, Shandong province, won the 12th National Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Prize, the top civil engineering award of China, which was held in Beijing on Dec 4.

With a total investment of 3.4 billion yuan (about $553 million) from Qingdao Conson Development Group, the Jiaozhou Bay Undersea Tunnel, running 7.8 kilometers with 3.95 kilometers undersea, links the urban Tuandao district and Xuejia Island of Huangdao district, playing a key role in communication across Jiaozhou Bay.

The construction of the tunnel started in December of 2006. The two-way six-lane tunnel was scheduled to open to traffic on June 30, 2011, with a designed speed of 80 km/h, which helps cut travel time from one side of the bay to the other from one hour to ten minutes.

It is China's second undersea tunnel, with the first, which opened to traffic in 2010, connecting Xiamen Island and the mainland in southeastern Fujian Province.

Wang Mengshu, academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highly praised the undersea tunnel, saying that it has reached an international advanced level in technology, planning and operation, and the large numbers of experts and achievements involved in the project will help promote the development of undersea tunnels for China.

The National Civil Engineering Zhan Tianyou Prize was initially established by the China Civil Engineering Society in 1999, with the approval from the Science and Technology Ministry and the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ministry, which is awarded to recognize outstanding achievements in technological innovation in civil engineering. 

(From China Daily, 2014-12-11)