A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the “National Highway Network Planning”. The “Plan” clearly states that by 2035, a modern high-quality national road network with extensive coverage, complete functions, intensive efficiency, green intelligence, safety and reliability will be basically built.
China has unveiled a plan outlining major targets for a national road network, according to a circular jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport. By 2035, the country aims to basically build a modern national road network that is extensive, fully functional, efficient, green, intelligent, and safe, according to the plan.
On July 8, 2022, a drone shot of the construction site of the Lou-Heng flyover bridge in the East Qidong hub of Hengyong Expressway. (Image source: Xinhua News Agency)
【Knowledge points】
In May 2013, the State Council approved the National Highway Network Planning (2013-2030). In recent years, under the guidance of this plan, national highways have achieved rapid development, generally meeting the needs of economic and social development, strongly supporting the implementation of major national strategies, and providing a solid guarantee for the decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. At the same time, with the changes in the international and domestic development situation and the increasing demand for high-quality travel of the people, the main channel capacity of the national highway network is insufficient, the regional network of urban agglomerations is not perfect, the depth of road network coverage is insufficient, and the road network is resilient and safe. Problems such as the need to improve emergency support capabilities are gradually emerging.
The newly issued “National Highway Network Planning” proposes a layout plan for the national highway network by 2035. The total planned size is about 461,000 kilometers, an increase of about 60,000 kilometers compared with the 2013 version. Among them, about 162,000 kilometers of national highways (including about 8,000 kilometers of long-term prospecting lines), and about 299,000 kilometers of ordinary national highways. The new planned road network strengthens the support for the development of urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas. The overall coverage of the national expressway network extends from medium and above cities with an urban population of more than 200,000 to cities and counties with an urban population of more than 100,000, and ordinary national highways are further supplemented. Strengthen the inter-city passage and the connection to important scenic spots. After the implementation of the “Planning”, the national highways will still maintain two levels of “national expressways + ordinary national highways”. Ordinary national highways provide general, non-charged basic transportation services, and national highways provide efficient and fast transportation services. The “Plan” is a programmatic document guiding the high-quality development of national highways in the new era. Its issuance and implementation will have an important and far-reaching impact on the development of my country’s highway transportation, and will play an important role in accelerating the construction of a national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network.
【Important speech】
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, generations of people have built roads in the mountains and built bridges in the waters, and have built a great transportation country, and are accelerating the construction of a transportation power. We adhere to the priority of transportation, and have built the world‘s largest high-speed railway network, expressway network, and world-class port group. Aviation and navigation have reached the world, and the comprehensive transportation network has exceeded 6 million kilometers.
Since the founding of New China, generation after generation of the Chinese people have worked in the spirit of opening roads through mountains and putting bridges over rivers, and turned China into a country with vast transport infrastructure. Today, we are redoubling our efforts to build a country with great transport strength. Convinced that transport should come first, we have built the world’s largest high-speed railway network, expressway network and world-class port clusters. We have opened air and sea routes that reach all parts of the world. We have set up an integrated transport network exceeding six million kilometers.
——On October 14, 2021, Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2nd United Nations Global Sustainable Transportation Conference
【Related vocabulary】
Smart Transportation
smart transport
main traffic line
main traffic lines
National comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network
comprehensive national transport network