Traffic was busy Tuesday, a day after its opening on a highway that runs to northeast China's Hunchun City, which borders Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The new highway shortens the time, from seven to fewer than five hours, to travel from Changchun, capital city of northeast China' s Jilin Province to Hunchun, also in Jilin.

Linking Jilin's Tumen City and Hunchun, it is also a branch of a national highway that leads to Hainan Province on the southern tip of China.

Also, the new highway, which costs 3.46 billion yuan (about 517.18 million U.S. dollars), will significantly boost logistics to Hunchun where goods are exported to Russia and the DPRK, improving trading ties with the two countries, said Li Jinhao, deputy governor of the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian in Jilin.

On Tuesday, 48 bus lines shifted their routes onto the new highway to travel from Yanji City, the seat of the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, to Hunchun.