World's longest expressway tunnel opens to traffic in Xinjiang

URUMQI -- The 22.13-km Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the world's longest expressway tunnel, officially opened to traffic on Friday.

Traversing the central Tianshan Mountains in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the tunnel slashes what was once a several-hour mountain drive to just 20 minutes.

As a vital artery linking city clusters in northern and southern Xinjiang, the G0711 Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, including the tunnel, entered operation on the same day.

Via existing expressways, the new route extends to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region, thereby becoming a key hub that connects China's eastern economic circle with countries in Eurasia.

"This is an all-weather, high-efficiency, large-capacity transport corridor that will significantly enhance the resilience and security of national energy resources and agricultural supply chains," said Huang Tao, deputy director of the transportation bureau of the Bayingolin Mongolian autonomous prefecture, where Yuli county is located.

Stretching 2,500 kilometers, the Tianshan Mountains span central Xinjiang, separating Urumqi, the largest city in the north, from Korla, the largest city in the south. With the opening of the expressway, travel time between these two major cities is reduced from 7 hours to approximately 3 hours, promoting economic integration between northern and southern Xinjiang and creating new channels for external exchanges.

"Previously, transporting raw materials from northern Xinjiang to Yuli took three to four days; now it can be done in one to two days," said Tao Feng, manager of Yuli Lihua Textile Co., Ltd., noting that the company's transport costs and time will be significantly reduced.

The expressway, constructed over five years, spans 324.7 kilometers with a total investment of 46.7 billion yuan (about $6.63 billion).

"Building roads in the Tianshan Mountains presented extreme challenges at every step," said Zhou Zheng, general manager of the project of China Communications Construction Company. The complex terrain along the route includes an 11-km section with 14 bridges and five tunnels, resulting in a bridge-tunnel ratio exceeding 90 percent.