Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province has been ramping up efforts to improve its urban functions over the past 10 years.

Construction of transportation infrastructure is expected to help make the city a transportation hub.

Over the past 10 years, a number of important transportation projects, such as the Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge, Haimen-Taicang tunnel and Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei high-speed railway, have been under construction in Nantong.

Nantong Rail Transit Line 1, which took four years and nine months to construct and spans 39 kilometers with 28 stations, began trial operating recently.

A view of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

In 2020, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge and the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Railway were completed and opened to traffic, shortening travel time between Shanghai and Nantong to just 66 minutes.

In 2021, a total of 27,294 passenger flights took off and landed at Nantong Xingdong International Airport, with a passenger throughput of 2.52 million people, ranking third in total passenger traffic in the province.

In 2021, the container throughput of Nantong Port reached 2,027,400 TEUs, surpassing 2 million TEUs for the first time and setting a record high for the second year in a row.