Expressways of China

Expressways of China or The Expressway Network of the People’s Republic of China is one of the longest in the world. The network is also known as National Trunk Highway System (NTHS). The total length of China’s expressways is 53,600 km at the end of 2007, the world’s second longest only after the United States and roughly equals that in Canada, Germany, and France combined. In 2007, 8,300 km expressways were added to the network.

Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complicated network of roads. China did not have an inch of expressways before 1988. Until 1993, very few expressways existed. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the Jingshi Expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province. This expressway now forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway, currently the longest expressway nationwide at over 2,000 km.

History

Originally, China had been carrying out an ambitious plan to build up a 35,000 kilometer national trunk highway system before 2020. The main objective of the NTHS was to construct 12 high standard trunk roads: five longitudinal roads and seven latitudinal roads. 70% of the trunk roads are expressways. This project has been completed by the end of 2007, 13 years ahead of the original plan. By the end of 2007, there were already 3.57 million km of highways, which includes 53,600 km (33,310 miles) of expressways.

On January 13, 2005, it was announced by Zhang Chunxian, minister of communications, that China will build a network of 85,000 km expressways over the next three decades, connecting all provincial capitals and cities with a population of over 200,000. Of this total length, 68,000 km are trunk roads and 17,000 km are 5 regional ring roads. There are also 2 parallel routes and more than 30 connecting links. 32,000 km of expressway are to be built in central and western regions.

Construction of expressways began in 1988 and the network is scheduled to be complete in 2020. The scale of the project can be seen by the fact that on January 1, 1989, the PRC had 147 km of freeways, but by January 1, 2007, it had 45,600 km of freeway, 4,400 km of which were built in 2006. The express highway system is set to expand to 65,000 km by 2010, 85,000 km by 2020, 120,000 km by 2030, and 175,000 km by 2050.

Costs

The total costs of the national expressway network will be 2 trillion yuan (some 240 billion US dollars). From 2005 to 2010, the annual investment will run from 140 billion yuan (17 billion US dollars) to 150 billion yuan (18 billion US dollars), while from 2010 to 2020, the annual investment will be around 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars).

The construction fund will come from vehicle purchase tax, fees and taxes collected by local governments, state bonds, domestic investment and foreign investment. Unlike other freeway systems, almost all of the roads on the NTHS/”7918 Network” are toll roads that are largely financed by private companies under contract from provincial governments. The private companies raise money through bond and stock offerings and recover money through tolls.

Efforts to impose a national gasoline tax to finance construction of the tollways met with opposition and it has been very difficult for both the Communist Party of China and the State Council to pass such a tax through the National People’s Congress of China.

Expressway Tolls and Financing

Neither officially named “motorway” nor “highway,” the PRC 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. However, many misinterpret “free” as meaning “no cost”, and this may be misleading because most of the expressways charge tolls. Sometime in the 1990s, “expressways” became the standardised term.

Note that “highways” refers to China National Highways, which are not expressways at all.

“Express routes” exist too; they are akin to expressways but are mainly inside cities. The “express route” name is a derivation of the Chinese name kuaisu gonglu (compare with expressway, gaosu gonglu). Officially, “expressway” is used for both expressways and express routes, which is also the standard used here.

• Expressway speed limits
• Expressway legislation
• Expressway signage
• Expressway exit numbering

Expressway Tolls and Financing

Nearly all expressways charge tolls. Tolls are roughly around CNY 0.5 per kilometre, and minimum rates (e.g. CNY 5) usually apply regardless of distance. However, some are more expensive (the Jinji Expressway costs around CNY 0.66 per kilometre) and some are less expensive (the Jingshi Expressway in Beijing costs around CNY 0.33 per kilometre). It is noteworthy that cheaper expressways do not necessarily mean poorer roads or a greater risk of traffic congestion.

Expressway planning is performed by the Ministry of Transportation of the People’s Republic of China. Unlike the road networks in most nations, most Chinese expressways are not directly owned by the state, but rather are owned by for-profit corporations (which have varying amounts of public and private ownership) which borrow money from banks or securities markets based on revenue from projected tollways. One reason for this is that Chinese provinces, which are responsible for road building, have extremely limited powers to tax and even fewer powers to borrow.

Expressway construction has also been one of the rare instances in which the Communist Party of China and the State Council has had to back down on a major policy initiative. During the late-1990′s, there were proposals to fund public highways by means of a fuel tax, but this was voted down by the National People’s Congress.

New Numeric System

Since the rapidly development of People’s Republic of China, the old main expressways network can not fit the situation, Ministry of Transportation of People’s Republic of China brought out a new expressway network planned named “7918 Network”, or “NTHS” in 2004, this network contains 7 radital expressways out of Beijing, 9 vertical Expressways, 18 horizontal expressway and several connection expressways.

Numberic Rules

• All expressways in this network are start with letter “G”(First letter of pinyin, Guodao,means “National Highway”).
• For the raditional expressways from Beijing, use only 1 numbers from 1 to 9, such as G1,G2
• For the vertical expressways, use 2 digit odd numbers from 11 to 89, such as G13, G35.
• For the horizontal expressways, use 2 digit even numbers from 10 to 90, such as G30,G46.
• For the area ring expressways which contained in the 7918 network, use 2 digit numbers from 91 to 99, such as G91,G93
• For the paraell expressways with the main expressways, add the direction signal “W”,”E”,”N”,”S” after the main line number to indicate, such as G4W.
• For the connection expressways, use “1″ plus a order number after the main line number to indicate, such as G1511.
• For the ring expressways of city, use “0″ plus a order number after the main line number, the main line number is use the minimum number of the main line number that the ring expressways connect, if it has used, use the second minium number.

Some Expressways in China

Existing expressways

• Badaling Expressway (Madian – Kangzhuang)

(Jingda Expressway (Madian – Datong (Shanxi))

• Jingcheng Expressway (Taiyonggong/Wanghe Bridge – Gaoliying)
• Airport Expressway (Sanyuanqiao – Beijing Capital International Airport)
• Jingtong Expressway (Dawangqiao – Balizhuang/Ximazhuang)
• Jingha Expressway (Tongzhou District Beiguan Roundabout – Yanjiao (Hebei))
• Jingshen Expressway (Sifang Bridge – Shenyang (Liaoning)
• Jingjintang Expressway (Fenzhongsi – TEDA (Tianjin)

(Jinghu Expressway (Beijing – Shanghai)

• Jingkai Expressway (Yuquanying – Yufa)
• Jingshi Expressway (Liuliqiao – Shijiazhuang)

(Jingzhu Expressway (Liuliqiao – Zhuhai (Guangdong))

Expressways under construction

• Jingcheng Expressway (Gaoliying – Chengde, under construction as of 2004)
• Airport Expressway (Northern Approach Route and 2nd Expressway, under construction as of 2004)
• Northern Jingjin Expressway (Tongzhou – Tianjin, under construction as of 2004)

Projected expressways

• Litian Expressway
• Jingji Expressway (Jingping Expressway)
• Southern Jingjin Expressway
• Jingbao Expressway

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