The Yunnan Provincial Environmental Protection Department recently publicized the acceptance of the Environmental Impact Report for the Binchuan-Heqing Expressway. According to the report, the Binchuan-Heqing Expressway is planned to start construction in January 2018, with a total route length of 67.209 km and a design speed of 80 km/h.
The Binchuan-Heqing Expressway route is located within Binchuan County and Heqing County of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. The total route length is 67.209 km, of which 18.160 km is within Binchuan County and 49.049 km is within Heqing County. It will be built to the standard of a two-way four-lane (two lanes in each direction) expressway, with a design speed of 80 km/h and a subgrade width of 25.5 m. The entire line includes 18,022 m of bridges in 55 structures, 11,830 m of tunnels in 9 structures, 4 interchange interchanges, 8 separated grade crossings, 62 passages, 1 expressway monitoring and management sub-center, 1 service area, 1 parking area, 2 maintenance work areas, 3 toll stations, 4 tunnel management offices, and 4 tunnel substations. The highway is planned to start construction in January 2018 and be completed in December 2020.
The report shows that the proposed Binchuan-Heqing Expressway is a transverse connecting line between the Shangguan-Heqing Expressway and the Dali-Yongsheng Expressway, and is also an important corridor linking Xiangyun, Binchuan, and Heqing in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. As the project and other nearby high-grade highways are completed one after another, the regional trunk corridor network will be gradually improved. Once the project is completed, it will significantly improve problems such as the low grade and poor condition of existing roads.
At the same time, the project impact area covers the famous tourist cities of Dali and Lijiang. At present, the roads from Dali to Lijiang include National Highway 214, the Dali-Lijiang Class II Highway, and the Dali-Lijiang Expressway. Both National Highway 214 and the Dali-Lijiang Class II Highway have problems such as having been built long ago, low road grade, and poor alignment, causing great inconvenience to local residents' travel and the passage of tourist vehicles. Once the project is completed, it will improve regional road conditions and create a fast, convenient, and comfortable golden tourism corridor with Dali and Lijiang as transfer hubs, effectively alleviating traffic pressure on existing roads, promoting the development of tourism resources and the improvement of scenic area facilities, and further advancing the development of the tourism industry along the route. The project will also form, together with the Dali-Lijiang Railway and Dali Airport and Lijiang Airport, a more complete comprehensive tourism transportation network in the region in which highways, railways, and aviation complement and reinforce one another, which is conducive to promoting the development of the regional tourism industry and raising the level of economic development.