The building of expressways is seen as key to accelerating
infrastructure construction. By the end of 2005, the total length
of highways open to traffic reached 1.93 million km, including
41,000 km of expressways up to advanced modern transportation
standard, ranking second in the world. With the five vertical and
seven horizontal arterial highways, totaling 35,000 km, China's
national highways skeleton system will be completed in 2008. At
that time, Beijing, Shanghai and all municipalities and provincial
capitals will be connected with highways, chiefly expressways. The
cities connected in the network will be over 200.
 |
The aim of the National Expressway Network Plan approved by the
State Council in early 2005 is an expressway system connecting all
provincial capitals with Beijing and with each other, linking major
cities and important counties. The network will have a total length
of about 85,000 km, including seven originating in Beijing; the
Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Taipei, Beijing-Hongkong-Macao,
Beijing-Kunming, Beijing-Lhasa, Beijing-Urumchi, and Beijing-Harbin
expressways. By 2010, China will have built additional 24,000-km
expressways, and the skeleton of the network will have taken
shape.?