Construction began Thursday on the 65-kilometre-long A5 expressway in Shanghai.

The project will involve investment of 5.1 billion yuan (US$617 million).

The A5 will connect the four districts of Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang and Jinshan, according to Zheng Xinlian, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Civil Engineering Bureau.

The construction work is technically demanding because the road will run through 12 cloverleaf junctions, three bridges over the Huangpu, Wusong and Yunzaobang rivers and two bridges over railway lines.

To reduce congestion, Shanghai plans to construct 300 kilometres of expressway by 2005 and 650 kilometres by 2010.

The city now has about 240 kilometres of expressway in service, Zheng said.

The A5 is designed to be a six-lane route. It will be 60 metres wide and has been designed for traffic moving at 100 kilometres per hour. A 50-metre-wide green belt of trees and grass will be built along each side of the expressway.

The Fuxi Investment Holding Co won a public bid to build the road. It has set up a subsidiary to take care of the financing and construction and 25 years of maintenance work.

The first section will be 17 kilometres long and is expected to begin operating in September next year to smooth traffic flow for the Formula One motor-racing championship to be held in the district of Jiading the following month.

Construction started in October last year on a Formula One circuit with an area of 5.3 square kilometres in the northeastern part of Anting town in Jiading.