After nearly four years of construction, China’s longest underwater highway tunnel, the Taihu Tunnel, is now open to vehicle traffic.

Construction workers used over 2 million cubic meters of concrete to build the two-way tunnel,     1     has six lanes (车道) and is 43.6 meters wide. The ceiling of the tunnel is equipped     2     colorful LED lights, designed     3     (prevent) drivers from getting tired. At a length of 10.79 kilometers, it provides     4     (traveler) with an alternative route to journey between Shanghai and Nanjing.

Connecting Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, it was built to reduce traffic pressure on the cities next to Lake Taihu and promote me economic     5     (develop) of the cities in the Yangtze River Deltz.

So how good is the Taihu Tunnel     6     (compare) with other tunnels around the world? The world’s longest undersea road tunnel---Norway’s 14.3-kilometer Ryfast     7     (run) between the city of Stavanger and the area of Solbakk. The underwater tunnel part of the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line,       8     highway that travels under Tokyo Bay, is 9.6 kilometers. In terms of underwater tunnels, the top honor     9     (certain) goes to the Channel Tunnel, which connects England with France by rail.     10     (it) underwater part runs for 37.9 kilometers, the longest of any underwater tunnel in the world.