China has major plans to develop its expressway network. At present, China’s expressways connect 98.8% of those cities with populations of over 200,000 people. In addition, expressways also connect around 88% of counties in China, according to the county’s Ministry of Transport.
At the end of 2021, the official data said that China had 117,000km of expressways as well as 257,700km of National Highways. However, China’s Ministry of Transport intends to continue expanding the network and has set a target of 461,000km of National Highways to be in use by 2035.
Meanwhile, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a new expressway in China’s Guangdong Province has been approved by the local authorities. The planned expressway will connect Qingxin district in Qingyuan city to Huadu district in Guangdong. Construction of the 54km expressway section is expected to cost US$3.15 billion, with the building work due to commence in late 2022.
