Expressways of China

National Trunk Highway System
中国国家干线公路系统
Zhōngguó Guójiā Gànxiàn Gōnglù Xìtǒng
The sign of regional expressway S1 for Gansu Province and the sign of national expressway G3 Beijing-Taipei Expressway below
Highways in China.png
A map of the national expressways of China
System information
Maintained by Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China
Length177,000 km (2022) (110,000 mi)
Formed7 June 1984
Highway names
Expressways:GXX (National expressways)
GXXxx (Auxiliary National expressways)
SXX (Regional expressways)
System links
Expressways of China
Simplified Chinese中国国家干线公路系统
Traditional Chinese中國國家幹線公路系統
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó Guójiā Gànxiàn Gōnglù Xìtǒng
Literal meaningChina National Highway System
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó Guójiā Gànxiàn Gōnglù Xìtǒng

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.[1][2]

With the construction of the Shenyang–Dalian Expressway beginning between the cities of Shenyang and Dalian on 7 June 1984, the Chinese government started to take an interest in a national expressway system. The first modern at-grade China National Highways is the Shanghai–Jiading Expressway, opened in October 1988.[note 1] The early 1990s saw the start of the country's massive plan to upgrade its network of roads.[1][dead link][3] On 13 January 2005, Zhang Chunxian, China's Minister of Transport introduced the 7918 network, later renamed the 71118 network, composed of a grid of 7 radial expressways from Beijing, 9 north–south expressways (increased to 11), and 18 east–west expressways that would form the backbone of the national expressway system.[2][dead link][4]

By the end of 2020, the total length of China's expressway network reached 161,000 kilometres (100,000 mi),[5] the world's largest expressway system by length, having surpassed the overall length of the American Interstate Highway System in 2011.[6] Many of the major expressways parallel routes of the older China National Highways.[citation needed] By the end of 2022, the total length of China's expressway network reached 177,000 kilometres (110,000 mi).[7]

  1. ^ a b Li, Si-ming and Shum, Yi-man. Impacts of the National Trunk Highway System on accessibility in China Archived 22 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Journal of Transport Geography.
  2. ^ a b 国家高速公路网规划 (National Trunk Highway System Planning) Archived 2014-01-14 at the Wayback Machine. 13 January 2005. (in Chinese)
  3. ^ 国内首条取消收费高速公路改建工程启动 Archived 2016-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. News.cn. (in Chinese)
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "多项指标位居世界第一 我国从"交通大国"迈向"交通强国"". 新华网. 31 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  6. ^ "我国高速公路通车里程位居世界第一 骨架网络正加快贯通". 第一财经日报. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  7. ^ "数说中国 我国高速公路通车里程稳居世界第一". 新华网.


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