FUZHOU, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A cross-sea road-rail bridge has opened to traffic in east China's Fujian Province, the first of its kind in the country.

The 14.5-km-long upper deck of the bridge was put into operation on Wednesday as a part of an expressway connecting the island county of Pingtan with Changle District in the provincial capital Fuzhou, according to the Fujian Expressway Group Co., Ltd.

The upper deck has six lanes for two-way road traffic, with a designed speed of 100 km per hour.

With the opening of the expressway, it takes only an hour to reach Fuzhou from Pingtan, where the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone was set up in 2009 to facilitate cross-Strait exchange and cooperation with Taiwan.

The pilot zone currently houses around 1,000 Taiwan-invested firms. Taiwan compatriots can now travel more conveniently to many parts of the mainland after arriving in Pingtan by sea.

The lower deck of the bridge is a section of the Fuzhou-Pingtan railway with a designed speed of 200 km per hour, which became operational on Dec. 26.