A view of a section of the lounge bridge in Bao’an District. Shenzhen Evening News

The major structures of a two-kilometer coastal lounge bridge in Bao’an District were connected Monday and the bridge will open to the public next year, according to Shenzhen Evening News.

The lounge bridge, on par with High Line Park in New York City, was designed as a linear park by James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), the designer of High Line Park.

The lounge bridge, which spans over six major roads in Bao’an CBD, will link sports and cultural facilities like Bao’an Stadium, Bao’an Library, Bao’an business area and the Art and Performance Center at the Bao’an Coastal Cultural Park.

The lounge, with three underground, ground and aerial passages linking to the facilities, is an urban public space that integrates transportation, ecology, landscaping, service, arts, sports and socializing. Construction of the lounge shows progress in Sponge City construction, utilization of underground space and development of greenery landscaping. The lounge, the first slow-traffic system linking the sea and Qianhai’s urban center, is divided into nine featured sections — planted with eight species of flowers — and has seven art squares and 41,900 square meters of greeneries on the underground, ground and aerial spaces.

The construction of the project has taken 27 months and involved constructions and renovations of passages linking the five roads, relocations of 50,000 pipes and cable lines, improvement of 40,000 square meters of greenery areas and utilization of 2,050 steel beams for the bridge.

On Feb. 28, the most challenging section of the lounge bridge was successfully hoisted and assembled. The 60.8-meter-long steel structure, linking Bao’an Stadium with Bao’an District Government Office Building, spans over Yu’an No. 1 Road.