The density of high-grade highways in north China's Tianjin municipality, neighboring Beijing, ranks No.1 in China, according to the latest figure released by the Ministry of Communications.

According to the figure, the highway network condition in the municipality's rural areas is also the best in the country.

By the end of last year, Tianjin had altogether 9,475 kilometers of highways, including 305 kilometers of expressways. The highway density in the municipality area was 0.79 kilometers per square kilometer.

In the past five years, Tianjin had invested 12.9 billion yuan(US$1.56 billion) into highway projects, building some 1, 400 kilometers of new highways.

(Xinhua 06/21/2001)