More than 400 old bridges in rural parts of the city will be renovated over the next three years, in order to make them safer.

The municipal government and district authorities around the city have allocated 150 million yuan (US$18.75 million) to support the project, which will mostly involve Qingpu, Songjiang, Nanhui, Jinshan and Fengxian districts.

"The renovation of the endangered old bridges is crucial to people's safety," said Dong Hui, an official with the Shanghai Road Administration Office.

Some of the bridges date back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Nanhui District is home to more than 60 dilapidated old bridges, including the Lianbihua Bridge which was built more than 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

It was constructed out of blue stones bonded together by lime and sticky rice the same materials used to build much of the Great Wall.

The arch bridge contains a large piece of granite carved in the pattern of "wind and fire wheels" - a type of weapon in Chinese fairy tales.

However, due to lack of maintenance, the bridge's railing has fallen off into the river and bricks along the road surface are becoming loose.

A lack of proper maintenance, and the rapid increase in the number of cars on city streets have caused similar damage to other bridges across the city.

In the summer of 2003, part of the 1,000-year-old Tai'an Bridge in Zhujiajiao Town of Qingpu District collapsed. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Town officials said the bridge had not been repaired for 400 years.

Wang Anshi, head of the the Housing and Land Administrative Bureau's renovation department, said the city government has a plan to restore rural areas to look like they did hundreds of years ago in hsitory in time for the 2010 World Expo.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )