The Bund, Shanghai’s most famous riverfront face, emerges from a two-year reconstruction on Sunday, March 28, 2010.
Since 2008, infrastructure such as flyovers, roadways and the 150-year-old Waibaidu Bridge (which has since been renovated and returned to its original location) have been ripped up to follow the city’s masterplan transforming the historic area into a unique pedestrian attraction.
Residents and visitors will soon be able to walk on the newly created riverside promenade, which the city government has envisioned to be “as charming and friendly to tourists as the Avenue des Champs d'Elysees in Paris”??. The main thoroughfare has now been split into two levels, with four lanes on each level. This means that much of the traffic passing the Bund has been diverted underground.
The Bund's facelift is one of several major projects rushed for the opening of 2010 World Expo Shanghai, including the Hongqiao Integrated Transport Hub, which made its debut last March 16. The rest of the infrastructure such as the pavilions on the Pudong showgrounds and Longyao Road Tunnel, leading to the Expo site, will be completed by April 15.
Margie T Logarta
