Construction on the land shortcut between Mount Huangshan in Anhui Province, and Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, two major tourist attractions in east China, has proceeded well, according to transport authorities of Anhui Province.

The expressway being built to link the famous scenic mountain with Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang, had its Anhui section open to traffic Monday.

The 83.103-km-long section starts at the Shuaishui Bridge of Huangshan City, where the mountain is located, and ends at Yulingguan at the border of the two provinces, taking an estimated investment of nearly two billion yuan (US$241 million).

It is believed that the section will benefit the efforts of southern Anhui, northern Jiangxi Province and the mountainous areas of western Zhejiang to join the economically developed Yangtze River Delta.

The Zhejiang section of the expressway is still under construction and scheduled for completion before May 2005.

After the whole line of the expressway open to traffic, journey by motor vehicle from Mount Huangshan to Hangzhou will take only two hours, much shorter than the previous six hours.

Huangshan City accommodates 6.2 million tourists annually. It is predicted that the figure will increase by six million after the expressway goes into operation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2004)