The 50-meter-long asphalt pavement of Longhai Elevated Expressway was removed in recent days and the flower beds and the sidewalk were gone at the same time. Longhai Elevated Expressway is located at the intersection of Longhai Road and Zhongzhou Highway in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province.

The Longhai Expressway opened on Nov. 1, 2015 and five days later the removal of 50-meter-long asphalt pavement was spotted by the crowds. This incident is under investigation.

The reporters with HNR.cn got in touch with the department in charge of the building of Longhai Expressway and asked why they removed the asphalt pavement.

Staff at the engineering department told reporters that people suffer from traffic congestion when they turn north of the east-west Longhai Expressway into the Zhongzhou Highway. Some official came to inspect the project and expressed his wish to remove all the flower-beds and build a better asphalt pavement.

The asphalt pavement only existed for five days before it was removed.

The "short-lived" expressway has triggered public criticism.  In a post in its Weibo account, the People's Daily comments that all the public funds spent on building the asphalt pavement was wasted when the pavement was removed several days later. It is a grotesque waste of resources and this incident should be put under public scrutiny. The party involved not only wastes the money of the taxpayers but also gives a blow to government credibility.