Shandong Takes Lead in Expressway ConstructionEast China's Shandong Province has become the country's first province to have more than 2,000 kilometers of expressways, according to sources from the Ministry of Communications.The province's expressway mileage reached 2,006 kilometers with the Shandong section of the Beijing-Fuzhou expressway opened to automobile traffic recently. Shandong has taken the lead in China in highway construction as of 1990. At present, the province's high-grade roads rank first in the country both in terms of combined mileage and the quality of the road surface. There are six Chinese provinces, including Shandong, that have reported more than 1,000 kilometers of expressways. The ministry sources predict that China's expressway mileage will reach 15,000 kilometers by the end of this year to rank it third in the world, and the total highway mileage will be 1.4 million kilometers. Expressways now cover 29 out of 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, which have alleviated traffic jams and brought huge economic and social profits. The United States now has 88,000 kilometers of expressways, the largest number for a country in the world. Shandong Province to Build More ExpresswaysEast China's Shandong Province, one of the country's economic powerhouses, plans to build more than 1,000 kilometers of expressway over the next five years.An official with the Shandong provincial government said this will bring the province's total length of expressway to more than 3,000 kilometers. |
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