A bird's eye-view of the Jianhu-Jingling section of Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou Highway [Photo/people.com.cn]

The Jianhu-Jingling section of Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou Highway, a 38-billion-yuan ($5.4 billion) transportation infrastructure, was opened to traffic on June 28, three months ahead of schedule.

Powered by technologies such as cloud computing and internet of things, the highway, the first of its kind to be labeled as "intelligent" in Zhejiang province, can upload meteorological and vehicle-infrastructure cooperative data to the cloud which would help authorities better manage traffic.

"The highway is equipped with a high-definition camera every 200 meters in the open and every 150 meters in the tunnel segment. This is a vast improvement from the previous situation when we had a camera every 2 kilometers," said Wu Futao, head of the electro-mechanical department.

The Jianhu-Jingling section will shorten travel time for residents from towns and cities nearby. For example, it takes people living in Yuecheng district, Shaoxing only 10 minutes to get to the picturesque Zhongxie ancient village and 30 minutes to the Chongren ancient town to enjoy an authentic stewed duck feast.

Toll charges for the 66.8-kilometer section will begin on July 1.