Northwest China's Shaanxi province will have 5,000 km of expressways in the next 15 years as part of the construction of a safe, efficient and convenient transport network, according to sources with the provincial government.

The provincial government adopted the "Program on Shaanxi provincial expressway network" this month, in a bid to reinforce expressway construction.

The total expressway mileage in Shaanxi had reached 1,302 km by the end of 2005, and the first expressway was built in 1990.

In the program, 3,500 km will be national expressways and 1,500km will be provincial ones.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2006)