THE design for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Passageway project was unveiled Saturday after 10 years of feasibility studies, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.

　　The giant project comprises three parts: the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, border checkpoints on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong sides and an extension linking the bridge and Moon Bay Thoroughfare in the Chiwan port area.

　　The 4,770-meter Shenzhen Bay Bridge, the major part of the passageway, will start from Dongjiaotou on the Shenzhen side and end at Aokanshi in Hong Kong, with the 1,600-meter-long section to be built by Shenzhen.

　　Designers have changed the color of the cables which will hold the stayed-cable bridge to prevent birds from slamming into the cables. The original design used sky blue for the cables.

　　The checkpoint at Dongjiaotou will become the world’s largest, with its designated transport capacity of 58,600 vehicles per day, 2.5 times that of Huanggang.

　　The 5.5-km extension linking Dongjiaotou and Moon Bay Thoroughfare in Shenzhen will cost some 1.3 billion yuan (US$157 million), 600 million more than the planned investment on the Shenzhen Bay Bridge.

　　On completion, the planned passageway will become a major link with the inland area and Hong Kong. It is estimated that 60 percent of vehicles shuttling between Hong Kong and Shenzhen will use the corridor when it is put into operation in 2005, greatly relieving traffic pressure in Shenzhen.

　　The Shenzhen and Hong Kong governments will raise money to build and manage construction on their own sides.

　　Construction on the Shenzhen side is expected to kick off next year at a cost of 2.8 billion yuan.

　　(Li Jing)