More roads widen economic horizons

It only takes an hour to travel from Qingdao to its satellite towns or three hours to other cities in Shandong province over the province's expressways - known to locals as the "city and provincial circle" commutes.

Four new speedways totaling 180 km opened to traffic in 2007 - setting a city record - bringing the combined length to more than 700 km, according to the officials of Qingdao Highway Administration Bureau (QHAB).

Since the first expressway linking Qingdao and Jinan was put into service in 1993, a total of 25.1 billion yuan has been invested to build 11 expressways that now form both an intra- and inner-city road transport system.

The entire province now has 4,000 km of expressways.

The network shortens the distance from Qingdao to other cities on the Shandong peninsula - including Yantai, Weihai, Dongying, Rizhao, Weifang and Zibo - to a two-hour drive and promotes development of the provincial economy, said the QHAB officials. The road network also shortens the drive to Qingdao's seven satellite towns to one hour.

An expressway linking Jimo and Pingdu, both parts of Qingdao, is also under construction, scheduled for completion in the first half of this year.

The second phase on construction of elevated roads linking Qingdao and the harbors Longkou and Qianwan is scheduled to start soon.

Rapid road expansion will significantly help Qingdao move its industries west for further development and consolidate its leading position in the province, according to the city government.

The city is also linked nationwide. It takes seven hours to drive to Beijing or Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu province.

Two arterial expressways connect Qingdao and Jinan to the extreme north and south - from Tongjiang in Heilongjiang province to Sanya in Hainan province - and to the west in Yinchuan, capital of China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

(China Daily 04/02/2008 page24)