The main tower of Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge, China's first cross-sea rail-road bridge, is capped on April 26. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Construction of the Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge, China's first cross-sea rail-road bridge, took another step toward completion with its main tower being capped Thursday.

The Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge will be a 16.3-km connection between the capital of Southeast China's Fujian province, Fuzhou, 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. As scheduled, it will open to traffic after a year.

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.

A conceptual picture of the Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]