There will be a new way to cross the Tumen River into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after refurbishment work on a bridge, which connects the Chinese city of Hunchun, in Jilin province with the?DPRK city of Raseon, is completed in 2016, chinanews.com reports on Nov 3,

Work on the aging 549-meter bridge began back in September of last year with an estimated cost of 140 million yuan ($22 million), because it failed to meet the increasing transport demand between the two cities. Work on the bridge approaches, the main foundation and lower layer has been completed.

It is also expected to improve transportation conditions between China and?the DPRK?and to increase cooperation between the two.