With the operation of the 7-kilometer road linking the Yangluo Bridge over the Yangtze River to the Hanxiao Expressway (Wuhan to Xiaogan, Hubei) beginning at the end of last month, the mileage of expressways in the central province of Hubei has reached 1,746 kilometers.

 

This year Hubei has sped up its expressway construction. In the first 10 months, fixed asset investment in transportation hit a new high with 24.3 billion yuan being spent. This is a year-on-year increase of 34.8 percent. The goal of a 24 billion yuan investment was realized two months ahead of schedule.

 

The province will continue its investment spree in transport facilities next year with 28 billion yuan earmarked to build nine highways and one bridge. From that total, 18 billion yuan will be allocated for construction of key road projects.

 

In recent years Hubei has taken big strides forward in highway construction. The 185-kilometer expressway between Xiangfan and Jingzhou and the 400-kilometer plus expressway linking Wuhan and Shiyan have opened to traffic.

 

This year, expressways such as Wuying, Wuma, Hangrui, South Section of Daguang and highway bridges of Edong (east Hubei) and Jingyue are under construction covering a distance of 534 kilometers.

 

Shiman and West Hurong expressways, on both routes bridges and tunnels make up 60 percent of the work, are all key developments started in the 2001-2005 period. They're expected to be finished in the 2006-2010 period.

 

When they're completed, Hubei's two longest east-to-west expressways, the Hubei section of the Hurong Expressway (Shanghai to Chengdu) and the Hubei section of Yinwu Expressway (Yinchuan to Wuhan), will be linked.

 

According to the Hubei TV Station, another three west-to-east and five south-to-north highways will be started or finished in the 2006-2010 period.

 

(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, December 14, 2006)