Gaps mean freeways can often be road to frustration

Missing freeway links between provinces are preventing the rapidly expanding network from being world class, a leading transport expert said.

An infrastructure blitz, thanks to the government's 4 trillion yuan ($635 billion) stimulus plan in 2008 to counter the global meltdown, saw the freeway network almost double in size.

Nearly 40,000 km of freeways were built, taking the total length to 84,900 km by the end of 2011, said Li Yaru, deputy chief engineer at the Ministry of Transport's Highway Research Institute.