Crossing the Shanghai Suzhou Highway, Nantong's "Better Connection"

The construction of the Shanghai Nantong Bridge has brought about a synergistic development effect on both sides of the Yangtze River, making more and more large projects see the "opportunity wind" of Nantong's development

On July 1, 2020, after waiting for half a century, Jiangsu welcomed another dual-purpose Yangtze River bridge, the Shanghai Suzhou Tong Yangtze River Public Railway Bridge, following the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. This is the first time in the Yangtze River Delta that three cities have jointly named the same cross river bridge. It has a agile posture and is the world's first dual-purpose cable-stayed bridge with a span of over one kilometer; It is powerful and has opened up the "throat" of the high-speed rail corridor along the eastern coast of China; It has a profound impact and opens a new chapter for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

A bridge flying north and south, connecting the two sides of the river and railway smoothly

The afterglow of the setting sun ripples the river, and tourists flock to the riverbank. There are long queues of cars on the riverbank.

Not long ago, the riverbank at the foot of the Shanghai Sutong Yangtze River Railway Bridge became a popular spot for internet celebrities to check in, and the magnificent "posture" of the bridge became a beautiful background on the phones of many Zhangjiagang citizens. And for the people of Nantong on the north bank of the Yangtze River, this bridge means more: crossing Shanghai and Suzhou, Nantong is more accessible.

Thanks to the railway artery that runs north and south, people in Nantong have experienced for the first time the thrill of crossing the river by high-speed train at their doorstep. As a "New Nantong person", Sun Fenglin, the general manager of Nantong Jinweier Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., has a deep feeling.

For Jinwei, we are a three city enterprise with companies located in Taicang, Nantong, and Dafeng. The railway connects the three cities. In Sun Fenglin's view, the biggest benefit of the Shanghai Suzhou Railway Bridge after its opening is that it connects the three companies together, making it very convenient for personnel flow and customer communication within the company. "Previously, customers in Shanghai were only willing to go to Taicang, but now they can take a high-speed train all the way to Nantong and Dafeng for negotiations."

After the Chinese New Year this year, Sun Fenglin and his family have purchased a house and settled in Nantong. However, he also needs to visit his parents in his hometown of Wuxi once or twice a month. The Shanghai Suzhou Yangtze River Bridge has undoubtedly become the fastest way to cross the river to go home. It takes more than an hour to drive home, making Sun Fenglin feel so close to home. "Go home and see it often" has become a reality, and there have been more student gatherings and short trips. Nowadays, Sun Fenglin can take high-speed trains and high-speed trains from Nantong West Station to travel to further regions such as the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region.

At the end of August, the factory building of the first phase project of Nantong Jinweier Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. was bustling with enthusiasm, and workers were busy installing and debugging equipment and materials, rushing to complete and put into production. After the project is fully put into operation, it will form an annual production capacity of 2100 units/set of polymer material intelligent equipment. As a leading enterprise in the field of professional manufacturing of polymer material flat forming equipment, Jinwell has also aimed at the geographical advantage of Nantong embracing the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. With Nantong bidding farewell to being "difficult to connect" and becoming "easy to connect", in the future, Nantong Company will become Jinwell's main research and development center and production base, and plans to become the headquarters of future listed companies.

Smooth flow of goods, faster delivery of packages

"The road surface is smooth, the bridge deck is wide, and the traffic feels particularly smooth. It won't be long before we reach Jiangnan." This is the feeling of Yu Liyang, a truck driver of Debon Logistics, when driving on the Shanghai Sutong Bridge for the first time.

Since the opening of the Shanghai Sutong Bridge, the traffic volume has been increasing year by year. During the eight day National Day holiday this year, the daily average traffic volume reached 89400 vehicles, and the "diversion" effect has become more obvious. While sharing the traffic volume of the Sutong Bridge, it has shortened the time and space distance between Shanghai, Nantong, and northern Jiangsu. It has also provided new choices for truck drivers like Yu Liyang who frequently travel between Nantong and southern Jiangsu.

Every night at around 12 o'clock, the express delivery on the day of packaging will depart from the logistics freight point in Liyang on time, arrive at the Suzhou transfer point in about two hours, and rest in Suzhou for 2-3 hours after unloading the goods. Then load the express delivery from Suzhou to Nantong, and depart on time at 6:30 the next day to return to Nantong.

"Taking the Shanghai Sutong Bridge is about 20 kilometers less and saves more than half an hour on the journey," Yu Liyang told reporters. "In the past, although it was midnight when taking the Sutong Bridge, there was a lot of traffic flow from north to south on the highway section from Nantong to Dongbang in Suzhou. It is easy to get stuck in traffic." If taking the Shanghai Sutong Bridge today, besides being slightly congested during holidays, it is much easier to walk than the Sutong Bridge, and the probability of accidents on the road is also lower.

Yu Liyang also has another feeling that due to the fact that the Sutong Bridge runs from north to south, there are more vehicles heading towards Shanghai and Zhejiang, while the Shanghai Sutong Bridge is more of a vehicle heading towards southern Jiangsu. This provides a more directional choice, greatly facilitating logistics transportation to Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and other places.

Large projects are coming one after another, giving more confidence in cross river investment attraction

Frequent visits from merchants, large projects come one after another, and investment negotiations are ongoing... Whenever passing by the Shanghai Suzhou Yangtze River Bridge, Qiu Xiang, director of the Investment Center of Nantong Gangzha Economic Development Zone, is excited: "The Shanghai Suzhou Yangtze River Bridge has brought great convenience to the investment attraction of the park, greatly shortening the distance between Nantong and southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, and surrounding provinces and cities." After the bridge was opened, It only takes 1 hour and 20 minutes by car from Gangzha Economic Development Zone to Shanghai Hongqiao High speed Railway Station, shortening the travel time by nearly 1 hour.

The bridge has been connected, the distance has been shortened, and the investment willingness of merchants has increased. The Shanghai Hongtian Technology New Energy Equipment Manufacturing Project, which settled in the Gangzha Economic Development Zone, is a fruitful investment achievement achieved by the opening of the bridge. Recalling the investment process, Qiu Xiang was deeply moved. "In Shanghai, we had in-depth discussions with Hongtian Technology and jointly explored the possibility of cooperation. The opening of the Shanghai Sutong Bridge became a prominent topic in our communication, and it was also an important factor for merchants to be willing to invest in Nantong." Within a week after the negotiations, the Gangzha Economic Development Zone quickly reached a formal cooperation agreement with Hongtian Technology.

The synergistic development effect of the completion and opening of the Shanghai Sutong Bridge on both sides of the Yangtze River has attracted more and more large projects to see the "opportunity wind" of Nantong's development. The Gangzha Economic Development Zone, adjacent to the Beiqiaotou Fort of the Great Bridge, has attracted many industrial projects to take the lead and introduced a series of high-quality projects covering multiple fields such as manufacturing and technological innovation, thanks to its advantageous location of being close to the water and receiving the moon first. In the three years since the opening of the bridge, the park has successfully attracted major projects such as Hongtian, Kewei, Jinweier, and Shuzhiyuan for cross river investment attraction.

In addition, on the basis of fully utilizing the transportation convenience of the Shanghai Suzhou Yangtze River Bridge and resonating with Shanghai and Suzhou, the Gangzha Economic Development Zone has specifically established overseas branches such as Shanghai and Suzhou to attract investment in areas such as intelligent equipment manufacturing, electronic information, and new materials. Efforts have been made to strengthen and supplement the existing enterprise industry chain. As of now, 35 projects worth over 100 million yuan have been attracted.

Nantong's "Haotong" is striving to build "North Shanghai" and "New Sunan"

Major national strategies such as the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt intersect and overlap here. In the layout of Jiangsu's "1+3" functional zone, the Yangtze River city cluster and the coastal economic belt converge and fluctuate here, and Nantong ushers in a window period of accelerated transformation of strategic opportunities. With Nantong's GDP surpassing the trillion yuan mark and the regional economic development level further improving, Nantong has been entrusted with the sacred mission of building an important growth pole for high-quality development in the province by the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Government.

The heavy responsibility lies on our shoulders, and Nantong has a clear development path - integrating into southern Jiangsu in a wider field, aligning with Shanghai at a deeper level, and striving to build "North Shanghai" and "New Southern Jiangsu". Economic development prioritizes transportation. In recent years, Nantong has seen frequent "cross river" actions and accelerated the release of its "good communication" advantages. After the Shanghai Sutong Yangtze River Highway and Railway Bridge, there are three cross river channels under construction: the Zhangjinggao Yangtze River Bridge, the Haitai River Crossing Tunnel, and the Shanghai Chongqing Chengdu High speed Railway (North Along the River High speed Railway). The second cross river channel and Chonghai channel of Sutong are accelerating planning, and the "Eight Dragons Crossing the River" pattern is accelerating. It was once lamented that the river was difficult to pass, but now it has unique advantages due to its "good accessibility".

A bridge flies from north to south, and the natural moat becomes accessible. The pace of Nantong's cross river integration is getting faster and faster. Last September, the Shanghai Metropolitan Area Spatial Collaborative Plan was released, making Nantong the only city north of the Yangtze River in the Shanghai "1+8" metropolitan area; In August this year, Nantong and Suzhou signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly build a "national comprehensive transportation hub"; Not long ago, Nantong signed a new round of comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology to deepen scientific and technological innovation. Shanghai Nantong will work together to build a regional innovation community. The integration of a wide range of areas into southern Jiangsu, deep integration with Shanghai, and high-quality promotion of cross river integration in Nantong have become an inevitable trend in the development of Nantong.

The surging momentum of Nantong's "Haotong" development. With breakthroughs in a number of major transportation infrastructure projects, Nantong is entering a new round of golden opportunities for development, and its development momentum is highly valued by all parties. It can be foreseen that with the construction of more and more cross river channels, Nantong in the future will seamlessly connect and deeply integrate with Shanghai and southern Jiangsu. The role of the important pivot of the Yangtze River Delta integration will be further highlighted, and the blueprint for Jiangsu's high-quality development as an important growth pole will be clearer and more visible.