The steepest section of a highway linking southwest China with Bangkok of Thailand was opened to traffic Sunday.
Completion of this section will speed up the construction process of the international highway between Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province and Bangkok.
The section between Yuxi and Yuanjiang is 112 kilometers long, the longest highway built in China's mountainous areas.
The Yu-Yuan highway contains almost 200 bridges, 12 tunnels, meaning one-third of this 112-kilometer-long highway is bridges and tunnels.
Construction of Yu-Yuan highway started in 1996 with an estimated investment of 3.04 billion yuan (366.3 million U.S. dollars).
Officials with the provincial transportation department said that the economic and trade cooperation between Yunnan Province and Laos and Thailand will be expanded as the transportation improves.
Kunming-Bangkok highway is a 2,000-kilometer-odd long road linking the two cities via Laos. It was considered as an artery enables Yunnan to be connected with the Southeast and South Asia.
(People’s Daily 10/29/2000)
