SHANGHAI - THE first road tunnel beneath the Yangtze River opened to traffic on Sunday in central China, state media reported.

The 3.6-kilometre four-lane tunnel has begun a three-month trial, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The 1.7-billion yuan (S$362 million) project began in November 2004 as part of efforts to relieve traffic congestion in the central city of Wuhan, which has a population of eight million people, the report said.

Wuhan is known as the gateway to China's hinterlands and the tunnel links the city's university and government office area with the business centre, it said.

The tunnel cuts travel time between the two areas from a half-hour to seven minutes, Xinhua said.

The nearly 6,400 kilometre Yangtze River is Asia's longest river and the world's third-longest after the Nile and the Amazon. It runs from northwest Qinghai province into the East China Sea at Shanghai. -- AFP