The Beijing-Yuxian Expressway, a trunk line western of the Chinese capital, opened to traffic on Monday. Starting from Mentougou District of Beijing and ending at Nuanquan Town of Yuxian County, north China's Hebei Province, the 184-kilometer expressway connects with the Hunyuan-Guangling Expressway in north China's Shanxi Province.
It is the only highway to Hebei in the west direction of Beijing.
The opening of the expressway reduces road travel time between Beijing's west sixth ring road and Yuxian County of Zhangjiakou City from three hours to two hours, and that between Beijing and Zhuolu County, also in Zhangjiakou City, to one hour.
"The opening of the Beijing-Yuxian Expressway will ease the traffic pressure in both the northwest and the southwest directions of Beijing," said Zhang Xiaojun, deputy director of the Engineering Coordination Office under the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.
Passing through ecological conservation areas and protection zones of ancient trees, the expressway had to surmount tremendous difficulties in construction.
And tunnels and bridges accounted for 88 percent of the total length, with two tunnel clusters each stretching 10 km in length, making them rare large-span highway tunnel clusters in north China.
"This project realized uniform planning, synchronized construction and simultaneous opening at different sections, forging a typical case of coordinated development in the trans-province highway construction across the country," said Wang Yueqiang, deputy director of the Comprehensive Planning Division under the Hebei Provincial Department of Transportation.
Beijing-Yuxian Expressway opens to traffic
