The Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge, a key project on the Dangyang-Zhijiang-Songzi Expressway, completed its main closure on Friday in central China's Hubei Province, laying the foundation for the highway's opening later this year.

The bridge's completion will also end the centuries-old reliance on ferry transportation for residents of Bailizhou Island, the largest river island in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The bridge stretches 1,549 meters, with a main span of 890 meters. It connects Zhijiang city on the north bank with Bailizhou Town on the south bank.

The final closure segment measured 6.95 meters in length and 47.5 meters in width, weighing 148 tonnes. Engineers described the installation as the most technically demanding and precision-intensive phase of the entire bridge project, comparable to assembling a giant structure with millimeter-level accuracy more than 100 meters above the river.

Known as the "thousand-year isolated island," Bailizhou Island has long depended entirely on ferries for transportation due to its location in the middle of the Yangtze River. The Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge will become the only expressway bridge serving the island's north bank.

After the bridge opens to traffic, travel conditions for nearly 100,000 local residents are expected to improve significantly. Crossing the river, which previously could take several hours by ferry, will be reduced to around five minutes by car.

The bridge will also connect three major national expressways, the Shanghai-Chengdu, Shanghai-Chongqing and Yueyang-Yichang routes, providing new momentum for the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.