Overview

The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as
the National Trunk Highway System (Chinese: 中国国家干线公路系统; pinyin: Zhōngguó Guójiā
Gànxiàn Gōnglù Xìtǒng; abbreviated as NTHS), is an integrated system of national and
provincial-level expressways in China.
It has reached 160,000 km by 2021, having surpassed the american freeway system in 2011.
Neither officially named "motorway" nor "highway", China used to call these roads "freeways". In
this sense, the word "free" means that the traffic is free-flowing; that is, cross traffic is grade
separated and the traffic on the freeway is not impeded by traffic control devices like traffic lights
and stop signs. Some time in the 1990s, "expressways" became the standardised term.

The first in Chinese mainland – Shanghai-Jiading Expressway

The high-speed section of the Shanghai-Jiading Expressway starts from the south of Shanghai's
downtown area to Jiading District, with a total length of 15.9 km. The construction of this
expressway accounts for 56 percent of the passenger and freight traffic between the urban area
and Jiading. It provides a good template for the construction of highways in other cities in China.

The busiest – Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway

The Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway starts from the Chinese capital and extends to the
Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, stretching over 2,285 km.
Called the "Golden Channel," it is the busiest artery of north-south traffic in China running
between some of China's most economically developed areas.

The longest – Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway

The Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway opened to traffic in 2014 with a total length of 4,395 km
extending from the eastern coast of Jiangsu Province to the western border of Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. It boasts the title of the "longest expressway in China" and is an important
traffic artery along the Belt and Road.
Thanks to this highway, a freight truck setting out from Lianyungang now takes 10 days to reach
Europe, crossing plains, mountains, plateaus and deserts. By sea, the trip from the same starting
point to the same destination would have taken 45 days.
The Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway is rich in cultural treasures. There are 24 national scenic
spots along the way, including the Terracotta Warriors, Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple,
making it a good choice for a road trip.

The longest expressway passing through desert – Beijing-Urumqi

Expressway
The Beijing-Urumqi Expressway has a total length of 2,540 km and passes through five
provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. It opened up the fastest route from northwest
China's Khorgos in Xinjiang to the northern port city of Tianjin.
The 930-km section of the Beijing-Urumqi Expressway in Inner Mongolia is a desert zone, which
makes this expressway the longest highway in the world passing through the desert.

The most difficult construction – Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway

The Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway is 1,768 km long and opened to traffic in 2010. It is
China's first expressway that runs through the Yangtze River Delta area.
The section passes through the central province of Hubei and has an average altitude of 1,100
meters. The complicated geological conditions made this expressway extremely difficult to
construct.
The Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway shortened the transport of hotpot ingredients from
Chongqing Municipality in the country's southwest to Shanghai on China's eastern coast from
three days to just 17 hours.

Highest honor award – Jing-Wu-Huang Expressway

The Jing-Wu-Huang Expressway has a total length of about 152 km. This Y-shaped expressway
connects the three eastern provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang.
Although the road is not long, natural landscapes and cultural assets are in abundance along the
way.
Engineers steered clear from ancient villages, rivers, and rare bird habitats and none of the
hundreds of century-old camphor trees along the route were damaged. For this it won the highest
award in China's civil engineering – the Zhan Tianyou Award.

Modernization

In 2013, the Ministry of Transport introduced the National Highway Network Planning, covering
both the national highway system and the national expressway system from 2013 to 2030. Goals
include making traffic travel more convenient and developing a variety of regions, as well as
more focus to the highways and expressways of the western regions of China. According to this
plan, the total size of the national road network will reach 400,000 kilometers.
Hu Zuicai, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, claimed that
the current highway construction is facing problems such as pre-approval and evaluation
assessment. Through simplification and integration of examination and approval stages, it will
help speed up the pace of highway construction, promote urban development in the region, and
help stabilize growth and promote investment. This policy would focus on five aspects:
● Speed up the building of expressways, especially to link the broken roads between
the provinces as soon as possible
● Supports the international economic cooperation corridor, connecting important
coastal highways along the coast of the Yangtze River and linking the construction of
important port highways;
● Serves new urbanization and urban agglomerations
● Supports poverty alleviation and cracks down on poverty by linking between cities
and regions;
● improve the efficiency of transportation, so that the freeway and other modes of
transport can be seamlessly connected or transferred and the overall transportation
efficiency can be improved.

Safety
In 2008 the rate of fatalities on Chinese expressways is 3.3 fatalities per 100 million vehicle-km.
Nonetheless, the fatality rate on Chinese expressways is five times higher than western countries
which have a 0.7 rate.

Speed limits
The Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates the speed limit of 120 km/h. Penalties for driving both
below and in excess of the prescribed speed limits are enforced.
Signage
Expressways in China are signed in both Simplified Chinese and English.
The signs on Chinese expressways use white lettering on a green background, like Japanese
highways, Italian autostrade, Swiss autobahns and United States freeways.

Costs
The total costs of the national expressway network are estimated to be 2 trillion yuan (some 300
billion US dollars as rate in 2016).

Tollways
China has an extensive tollway system, which consists of nearly all expressways as well as
having around 70% of the world's tollways. Tolls are roughly around 0.5 yuan per kilometre, and
minimum rates (e.g. 5 yuan) usually apply regardless of distance. However, some are more
expensive (the Jinji Expressway costs around 0.66 yuan per kilometre) and some are less
expensive (the Jingshi Expressway in Beijing costs around 0.33 yuan per kilometre). It is
noteworthy that cheaper expressways do not necessarily mean poorer roads or a greater risk of
traffic congestion.

impede
freight
alleviation
tailgating
tollway
expiation
facile