China's expressway network links 95 pct of population

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China has made solid progress in building a national road network to improve inter-area transport layout and increase traffic capacity, with its expressways linking about 95 percent of the population, official data showed.

At present, the expressway network covers 98.8 percent of cities each with an urban population of over 200,000 and prefecture-level administrative centers, while linking around 88 percent of county-level regions, Wang Tai, an official with the Ministry of Transport, told a press conference Monday.

National highways also basically cover administrative areas at and above the county level and border ports open all year round, Wang said.

As of the end of last year, China had built 117,000 km of national expressways and seen 257,700 km of national highways open to traffic.

The country aims to build national roads with a total length of about 461,000 km, consisting of 162,000-km expressways and 299,000-km highways by 2035, according to a circular released earlier this year.

To facilitate the construction of a modern, high-quality national road network, efforts will be made to promote key projects and an integrated road network for city clusters, Wang said.

China will also step up green road construction by enhancing the effective use of resources, protecting ecological environment along the roads and effectively reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.