CHENGDU, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- An expressway connecting mountainous hinterlands in southwest China's Sichuan Province will open to traffic early Thursday, enhancing regional connectivity and injecting vitality into rural revitalization, said its contractor on Wednesday.
The 152-kilometer route, linking the Mabian Yi Autonomous County in Leshan City with Zhaojue County in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, will cut the drive time between the two counties from five hours to one and a half hours, and the drive time between Zhaojue and Chengdu, the provincial capital, from nine hours to four hours.
The harsh natural conditions of the Daliang Mountains and the Xiaoliang Mountains, through which the expressway runs, have made road construction extremely challenging. Lagging infrastructure once impeded local socio-economic progress.
With an estimated total investment of over 33.5 billion yuan (about 4.77 billion U.S. dollars), the expressway has an elevation reaching 2,090 meters at the highest point and a bridge-tunnel ratio of 82 percent, according to Shudao Investment Group.
It epitomizes China's expansion of its highway networks into previously underserved regions, as well as the country's advancement of construction technologies in complex, mountainous areas.
By the end of 2024, the total length of expressways in China topped 191,000 kilometers, covering 99 percent of cities each with a population of over 200,000. Some 8,000 kilometers of expressways are expected to have been added to the network of the world's transport powerhouse by the end of 2025, according to the Ministry of Transport.
The new road will benefit over 1 million people of various ethnic groups. Local produce specialties such as olive oil, naval oranges and tea will bid farewell to the challenges of difficult transportation, said Luogu Aji, Party secretary of Zhaojue County. ■
