Shuttling between cities has become most people's daily routine in the Yangtze Delta. Our He Jian takes a look at how the traffic links also help to quicken the development of the region's integration.

Shuttling between cities in the Yangtze Delta has become a daily routine for many office workers. The Yangtze River Delta boasts the longest operating mileage and the most densely knit high-speed rail lines in the country. Of the 41 cities above prefecture level in the Yangtze Delta, high-speed railways are available in 34, and six others are building high-speed railways. Zhoushan is the lone city in the region that doesn't have a high-speed railway and isn't building one.

Drivers who shuttle between Jiangsu and Anhui provinces have been pleased to hear that two hours can be saved on a one-way trip from Suzhou in Anhui to Yangzhou in Jiangsu.

YIN DEMING, DEPUTY DIRECTOR YANGZHOU CITY TRANSPORTATION BUREAU "The expressway network brings convenience. The completion of this expressway is significant to the integration of Yangzhou into the northwest region of the Yangtze Delta."

This dragon-like structure on the sea is the famous Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Bridge. It's 10 years old now. At SAIC-Volkswagen's Ningbo plant, trucks loaded with parts and components arrive in a steady stream. Half of them use the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Bridge. The Hangzhou Bay New Area has attracted 14 Fortune 500 companies. The total value of industrial production has doubled in three years, and the total amount of capital for investment in the past 10 years has exceeded 350 billion yuan. Convenient transportation and flourishing industries also draw more talents to stay.

ZHANG WEIDONG, DIRECTOR SHANGHAI-NINGBO COOPERATION OFFICE "We have now attracted about 50,000 talents. They are mostly young people who come from all parts of the country."

At the end of Yingdian Road in Qingpu District, Shanghai, when you cross a river you can see Xinle Road in Kunshan, Jiangsu. The distance between the two roads is only 400 meters. For many years in the past, only a stone bridge linked them. It was only strong enough for pedestrians, scooters and bicycles. All other vehicles had to take a 4-kilometer detour. They have thought of rebuilding a highway bridge.

In May 2017, the governments of Shanghai's Qingpu District and Kunshan decided to try a new method. In simple terms, one party should commission the other to build the cross-province part, while each side should build the remaining parts in the area under its own jurisdiction. However, both parties have to agree to the plan, complete construction together, and clarify the monitoring and maintenance duties after the road is built.

By the end of this month, this highway bridge will open to traffic and villagers in the two places will no longer take a detour. The coordinated development of civil aviation is also much needed. Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui have 16 total airports. But in the past, each individual airport developed separately and although some have expanded, operating efficiency is decreasing.

JIANG HUAIYU CHINA CIVIL AVIATION "In fact, through the coordination of the civil aviation sector in the Yangtze River Delta, we are tackling many problems. For example, strained resources, the lack of synergy, unregulated competition, inefficiency, and inadequate match-ups. These results have plagued our development. There is much we can do in coordination and optimization to meet the needs of world-class urban agglomerations in the Yangtze River Delta for the development of air transport."

Passenger throughput of Shanghai's airports topped 110 million last year. According to conservative estimates, this figure will hit 180 or even 190 million by 2035. A vast, dense and multi-faceted transportation network will steer the Yangtze Delta into a better and brighter future.