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)