The Second Bridge on the Yangtze River in Nanjing，capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, is a national key construction project during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period (1995-2000). It is located 11 kilometers away from the lower reaches of the bridge of the Yangtze River. Its total length is 21.337kms and it comprises the bridges at the southern and the northern tributaries, the southern bank, Baguazhou and the directing line of the northern bank. The bridge at the southern tributary is a slanting-drawn one with the steel-cased beam, its total length is 2,938m, its main span is 628m, which has made it rank first among the same kind of bridges in China and the third in the world. The bridge at the northern tributary is a continuous box beam bridge with the reinforced pre-stressed concrete. Its length is 2,172m and its main span is a 3×165m continuous box beam, which also ranks at the top place in China. The whole bridge incorporates systems of communications, supervision, collecting charges, lighting, power supply, lightning evading, the dynamic and the static weighing. The construction period approved by the State is 4 years and the estimated budget of the project is 3.35 billion yuan (US$405 million).

　　The construction of the Second Bridge on the Yangtze River in Nanjing is started formally on Oct. 6, 1997 and it was completed on March 26, 2001 when it was open to traffic. And it was nearly seven months in advance for the approved date by the State and over 300 million yuan (US$36.3 million) was saved in its investment compared with the project of the same size. The completion of the Second Bridge on the Yangtze River in Nanjing has realized the connection of the national roads No. 104, 205, 312 and 328 passing through Nanjing, and also the connection of the Expressways of Shanghai-Nanjing, of Nanjing-Hangzhou, of Nanjing- Bengbu and the road surrounding Nanjing. It has indeed made the transportation of Nanjing to be "a ring within the city, a network outside the city and accessible whenever passing the river."

　　The project passed the national acceptance of project completion in June 2002. The overall assessment of the project is excellent and the comprehensive mark is 96.6, the highest mark for the extra-large bridges in China now. It has won the praise from the Ministry of Communications: "The quality of the project and the management of the construction of the bridge represent the new level of the infrastructure construction of the highway in our country. It has erected a landmark in the history of the bridge construction in our country."

　　The bridge has won the Grand Prize of Zhan Tianyou Civil Engineering, First Prize of the High-Quality Projects by the Ministry of Communications, the Golden Prize of the National 10th Excellent Project Design, First Prize of the Excellent Designs of the Ministry of Communications, Prize of Excellent Projects of "Yangtze Cup" in Jiangsu Province, and has won the "Furong Cup" of the Construction Projects in Hunan Province consecutively. Its 14 key technical research results have won First Prize of Technical Advancement of Chinese Road Society. The paving and packing technique of epoxy asphalt concrete on the surface of the steel bridge and its application has reached the international leading level and the other 13 items have reached the international advanced level.

　　In the past three years and more since the bridge was open to traffic, it has gone through the tests of large volume of traffic, many overloaded vehicles, frequent raining, high and low temperatures; it has been keeping a very good condition of operation. The domestic and the international models of managing modern bridges and expressways have been widely used for reference, the maintenance and management have been strengthened, the toll service has been standardized and the property rights have been safeguarded by law. The high-tech means are utilized to have a round-the-clock and intelligent management. The status quo of the project in the whole line is grasped through the dynamic tracking so as to provide the basic data and materials for the maintenance and management. Once a problem is discovered, it can be dealt with timely; and any damage of the safeguards of the project will be repaired within 48 hours. The paving and packing technique of epoxy asphalt concrete on the surface of the steel bridge is used for the first time in China, which has very high requirements in its maintenance and management and it is the focus of the engineering management of the bridge. Water is sprayed on the surface of the bridge during the period of high temperatures and ice and snow are swept away timely during the weather of rain and snow to ensure the smooth transportation. Nowadays, the steel bridge surface's paving, the roads of the whole line, the protective facilities and the greening project are all in good conditions and are running well. To make better the operational management of the bridge, the administration of the bridge has taken positive measures to raise the volume of the traffic. The volume of traffic has been rising over the years through the good-quality service, the strict enforcement of the road by law and the development of civilization activities. Now the daily average volume of the traffic has reached 29,000 in terms of vehicles and huge social and economic benefits have been attained. The construction of the bridge has loosened the traffic pressures of the bridge on the Yangtze River in Nanjing and has solved the problem of the national and provincial road networks smoothly crossing the river. Moreover, it has been increasingly playing a greater and greater role in the economic development of Nanjing and its surrounding regions.