A cross-sea bridge for motor vehicles and trains linking downtown Fuzhou with Pingtan is under construction. [Photo by Zhang Yi/CHINA DAILY]

Construction of the Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge, China's first cross-sea rail-road bridge, will be completed this year and will open to traffic in 2020, local media reported.

The Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge will be a 16.3-km connection between Fuzhou, capital city of East China's Fujian province and the island city of Pingtan off the coast of the Taiwan Strait.

With an estimated investment of 10.9 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), it will greatly shorten the traffic time between the two cities. The bridge has two layers, with the upper level carrying a six-lane highway and the lower bearing a double-track railway.

The cross-sea rail link is also an integral part of the 88-km Fuzhou-Pingtan railway, which starts from Songxia Port in neighboring Changle county and reaches Su'ao town in Pingtan.