The bridge directly reaching Yangzhou and the rapid urban rail: The eastern wing of the Nanjing metropolitan area is heating up.

On December 14, 2024, in Nanjing, the Longtan Yangtze River Bridge is nearing completion, adorned with colorful lights in the evening.

As the progress of the transportation project connecting Nanjing and Yangzhou continues to advance, the “hot west and cold east” pattern of the Nanjing metropolitan area will be rewritten. Currently, the main structure of the Longtan Yangtze River Bridge has been completed, and it is expected to be basically finished by the end of the year, with operations commencing in early next month. Previously, traveling from Longtan in Nanjing to Yizheng City under Yangzhou required a detour through the Jiangbei New District of Nanjing, taking about 50 minutes. After the bridge opens, the journey to Yizheng will take just 6 minutes, and it will take half an hour to reach the main city of Yangzhou.

New developments have also emerged regarding the intercity rail transit connecting the two cities. The Nanjing Public Resources Trading Center recently announced a tender for the civil construction of the shield tunnel section of the Nanjing to Yizheng line (including the Yangzhou extension). The commencement of the river crossing tunnel marks a new phase in urban rail construction. According to official sources, the commuting time from Nanjing to the main city of Yangzhou will be only 34 minutes after the line opens.

The “one bridge, one tunnel” directly illustrates the “heat map” of urban integration in the eastern wing of the Nanjing metropolitan area. In the past, cities in the western wing, such as Ma’anshan and Chuzhou in Anhui, actively integrated with Nanjing, which was often referred to as “the capital of Anhui.” In contrast, cities in the eastern wing seemed somewhat hesitant in embracing their big brother, Nanjing. Now, places like Zhenjiang and Yangzhou are proactively enhancing “interconnectivity” to “fast connectivity,” strengthening collaboration in areas such as scientific innovation, ecological environment, and public welfare, and jointly promoting the deepening and solidification of the integration of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou.

The Longtan Bridge, which connects Nanjing and Yangzhou, starts from the Jiangbei Dike in Yizheng, crosses the Yangtze River, and ends at Longtan in Nanjing, spanning approximately 7 kilometers. It is being constructed to the standards of a dual-direction six-lane expressway, with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

In April 2020, the main construction of the bridge commenced, and the main structure has now completed its “hard installation,” with ongoing work on safety facilities and electromechanical installations. It is expected to be basically completed by the end of the year. Previously, traveling from Longtan in Nanjing to Yizheng required a detour via the Qixia Mountain Yangtze River Bridge. The Longtan Bridge will streamline this route, significantly promoting cross-river integration and the integrated development of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou, while accelerating the construction of a comprehensive transportation corridor, in line with the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The civil construction tender for the shield tunnel section of the Nanjing to Yizheng line (including the Yangzhou extension) has recently been announced, which is widely regarded as a significant step forward in the progress of the Nanjing-Yizheng intercity railway, playing a crucial role in the overall operation of the line.

Simultaneously, construction is progressing at multiple stations along the Nanjing-Yizheng intercity line. As of October, three stations and two elevated sections are under construction. A recent visit by reporters revealed that the main structure of the first roof slab at the Tianning Avenue Station in Yizheng has been completed, while construction is underway at the Gongnong Road Station in the central urban area. The first shield machine for the entire line has been accepted and will be used for tunneling between Gongnong Road Station and Tianning Avenue Station, marking the beginning of the “city-crossing journey” for the shield tunnel sections.

According to the plan, the Nanjing-Yizheng intercity line will be constructed in two phases. The first phase starts from the Xianlin Lake Station of Nanjing Metro Line 4, passing through Qixia District and the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone, reaching Yizheng City, the Economic Development Zone, and Hanjiang District, ending at the West Station of Yangzhou, covering approximately 57.8 kilometers with 16 stations and a design speed of 160 kilometers per hour. Once completed, it will enable commuting between the two cities and along the line in just over 30 minutes.

Is there a “temperature difference” between the east and west of the metropolitan area?

In February 2021, the “Nanjing Metropolitan Area Development Plan,” which spans Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission. The metropolitan area, with Nanjing as the “group leader,” includes Zhenjiang and Yangzhou to the east, Liyang and Jintan under Changzhou to the southeast, and Chuzhou, Ma’anshan, and Wuhu in Anhui to the west, with Xuancheng in Anhui to the south and Huai’an in Jiangsu to the north.

There has been a notion that cities in eastern Anhui have a natural affinity for Nanjing, showing enthusiasm and initiative, while their counterparts in the eastern wing appear somewhat “reserved.” Cities like Chuzhou, Ma’anshan, and Wuhu are all within a one-hour commuting radius of Nanjing, laying the groundwork for urban integration. Among them, the Nanjing-Chuzhou intercity line was approved, and construction on the Chuzhou section began in December 2018, taking 54 months to reach Nanjing’s “doorstep,” and it opened for operation last June. This July, the Nanjing section entered the preliminary preparation stage for construction.

The Nanjing-Ma’anshan intercity line is also advancing rapidly. According to “Ma’anshan Release,” the system is expected to be ready for joint debugging and testing by March next year, with operations synchronized with the Nanjing section by the end of the year. At that time, the central urban areas of the two cities will be interconnected in just 30 minutes.

In terms of connecting with Nanjing, cities in eastern Anhui are competing to take the lead. In early 2020, during a tense pandemic prevention period, the main leaders of the Chuzhou municipal government visited Nanjing four times within two months to discuss cooperation. That year, Chuzhou’s economic total reached 290.9 billion yuan, making it the “third city” in Anhui. The then mayor, Zhang Xiangan, expressed at the Nanjing metropolitan area party-government joint meeting that the “report card” could not be achieved without Nanjing’s strong support.

In March of this year, the then mayor of Chuzhou (now the party secretary) Wu Jin stated in an interview that the focus would be on enhancing cooperation with Nanjing, accelerating the construction of new functional areas between Tingshan (Pukou District of Nanjing) and Chaohe (Lai’an County of Chuzhou), and Pukou and Nanqiao (districts under Chuzhou). They aim to solidify paired cooperation and expedite infrastructure construction and major project attraction in the Nanjing-Chuzhou northern Anhui provincial industrial cooperation park.

Since 2018, Ma’anshan has been committed to leveraging the “Nanjing card” and enhancing integration with Nanjing. In April of this year, local authorities introduced several measures to fully integrate with Nanjing, promoting cooperation in industrial collaboration, scientific innovation talent, and ecological protection. They send young cadres to Nanjing for “on-the-job learning” each year and include the integration and connection with Nanjing in the annual and monthly assessments of the municipal party committee, demonstrating their sincerity and determination.

The integration of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou: transforming “a group of cities” into “a city cluster.”

Since the signing of the “Cooperation Framework Agreement on Urban Integration” by Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang in 2009, the integration of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou has progressed for 15 years. In 2014, Jiangsu Province released the “Nanjing-Zhenjiang-Yangzhou Urban Integration Development Plan,” which is Jiangsu’s first regional plan themed on urban integration, laying out major infrastructure projects, including the Nanjing-Yizheng urban rail, the Longtan river crossing passage, the Nanjing-Ju urban rail, the Yangma line Zhenju section, and the Lianhuaiyang-Zhenjiang railway.

The plan also identified challenges facing the integration of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou, primarily reflecting insufficient driving force from Nanjing to surrounding areas, the lack of a mechanism for coordinated development, and unreasonable regional resource allocation.

In April 2020, Ma Minglong, the secretary of the Zhenjiang Municipal Committee, proposed during a research visit to Jurong City that Jurong’s development should actively serve, embrace, and integrate with Nanjing, leveraging opportunities for advancement. He repeatedly emphasized that Jurong should integrate with Nanjing while “passing the baton to Zhenjiang.”

In December 2021, the Nanjing-Jurong intercity rail transit began operations, with a one-way travel time of about 35 minutes. Last year, Ma Minglong stated in an interview with Xinhua Daily that Zhenjiang would deeply integrate into the “small triangle” of Nanj