page_title: Hangzhou Bay
section_title: Bay bridges
hierarchical_section_title: Hangzhou Bay / Bay bridges
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 嘉绍大桥 Jiaxing - Shaoxing Bridge
context_page_description: Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou, is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head at the city of Hangzhou, from which its name is derived.
  At Hangzhou, the Qiantang River flows into this Bay, providing freshwater from the West while seawater comes in from the East. Thus, Hangzhou Bay, especially its western end, is sometimes called in the scientific literature as the Qiantang River Estuary.
  At the southeast end of Hangzhou Bay, off Ningbo, are many small islands that are collectively called the "Zhoushan Islands." This archipelago of islands is urbanized with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the province of Zhejiang.
  At less than 15 meters in depth, the entire Bay is relatively shallow. Consequently, the main port in the Bay area is the one in Ningbo and Zhoushan, at the southeast end of the Bay on the coast of East China Sea.
context_section_description: The Bay was first spanned by the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which was linked up on June 14, 2007 and opened on May 1, 2008. It is a long 35.7 km (22.2 mi) bridge carrying  G15 expressway, three lanes each way, with two separate cable-stayed portions and a service center at the bridge midpoint. It runs across the mouth of Hangzhou Bay connecting the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province. One of the longest bridges in the world, it cuts the trip between eastern Zhejiang and Shanghai from 400 to 80 kilometers (250 to 50 miles).
  The second bridge crossing of the Bay is the Jiashao Bridge, located west of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and completed in 2013.  It stretches 10.14 km (6.3 mi) across the Qiantang River estuary and carries the  G15W expressway, four lanes each way, over six consecutive cable-stayed spans supported by six tall pylons. The Jiashao Bridge connects Shaoxing on the south shore of the Bay to a point on the north shore of the Bay due south of Jiaxing and provides a more direct route for vehicle traffic between Shaoxing and Shanghai.
caption: The Jiashao Bridge with six consecutive cable-stayed spans
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