The west extension project of the North Ring that extends the north section of the city ring to the west to connect the Taihu Avenue was broken ground last week. The new road is planned to be concluded and put into use two years later in 2010.

    The whole construction starts from the Xinzhuang cloverleaf and goes west to meet Taihu Avenue at its intersection with Jianlin Road. The elevated, two-way-six-lane road has a total length of 8.3km, with 7.2km falling in the SND, and an elevated width of 26m. The speed limit is set 80km./hr. The side roads are two-way-four-or-six-lane and will be going on the ground.

    Exits will be set at SND's arterial roads such as Changjiang Road, Zhujiang Road, Xiangjiang Road, etc. besides the main exits at Jianlin Road, which makes the transportation heading for both the Taihu Lake and the central area of the SND from downtown much easier.

    Parelleled with this west-bound elevated road, the South City Ring has already connected the Dushu Lake in the east SIP with the hills in the west by extending to the two directions. The east extension project of the South City Ring has extended the ring transportation to Dushu Lake Avenue that traverses the lake through an underwater tunnel, and the west extention, in the opposite direction, links the suburban Sufu Road with downtown.

    Only 20km away from the Taihu Lake as the crow flies, the old city proper, however,