On the afternoon of June 21, the Information Office of the Anhui Provincial Government held a press conference on the revision of the Anhui Provincial Expressway Network Plan (2020-2035). According to the Plan, by 2035, the province will have built an expressway network with a rational layout, efficient connectivity, extensive coverage, smooth traffic and green intensification, basically achieving the goals of "ring roads in all cities, dual lines in all counties and districts, full coverage of key towns, full connectivity of important nodes, and full capacity expansion of major corridors." The service capacity of expressway corridors linking Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east and Hubei, Henan and Jiangxi to the west will be effectively improved, fully supporting the building of a transport powerhouse and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

456 km of expressways to be reconstructed and expanded

Xu Jingqi, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Transport, said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the province will accelerate the construction of unconnected sections of national expressways and expressway river-crossing channels (implementing the Wuwei-Yuexi section of the G4221 Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway and the G0321 Dezhou-Shangrao Expressway (Hefei-Zongyang, Chizhou-Qimen, Qimen-Wan-Gan boundary, and the Huangshan-Qiandao Lake section of the G4012 Liyang-Ningde Expressway); accelerating the construction of dedicated national expressway river-crossing channels such as the G3 Tongling Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge and the Wuhu Taishan Road Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge). A total of about 539 km of unconnected national expressway sections will be built, and by 2025 the national expressways within Anhui will be fully connected.

Focusing on transport integration in the Yangtze River Delta region, the province will build expressways connecting with the Yangtze River Delta such as Lai'an-Luhe, Nanjing-Hexian and Xuzhou-Huaibei-Fuyang expressways; focusing on promoting interconnection in the central region, it will build inter-provincial expressways such as the Yingshang-Linquan section of the Hefei-Zhoukou Expressway and the Hefei-Huoshan-Wan-Yu boundary section of the Xuancheng-Shangcheng Expressway; focusing on advancing intercity connectivity, it will build intercity expressways such as the Hefei-Wuwei section of the Chaohu-Huangshan Expressway, Suzhou-Guzhen and Wuhe-Mengcheng; focusing on accelerating the shift from "access in every county" to "access in every county seat," it will build expressways such as Wuhu-Huangshan, Guzhen-Bengbu, Bozhou-Mengcheng, the Shouxian-Yingshang section of the Hefei-Zhoukou Expressway and the Yingshang-Linquan section; and focusing on serving the development of the riverside industrial belt, it will build expressway river-crossing channels such as the Wuwei-Anqing section of the North Riverside Expressway, the Anqing Ring Road section, the Anqing-Qianshan section of the Tian-Tian Expressway, the Anqing Haikou Yangtze River Highway Bridge and the Chizhou Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge. A total of 2,248 km of expressways will be added to densify the network.

Focusing on major expressway corridors connecting eastward to the Yangtze River Delta region and radiating from the Hefei metropolitan area to surrounding areas, the province will actively advance the capacity expansion and reconstruction of expressways with prominent network functions and heavy traffic volumes to improve the service capacity of major expressway corridors. It will continue the reconstruction and expansion projects of the Wan-Su boundary-Wuhu East Hub section of the G4211 Nanjing-Wuhu Expressway, the Wuhu-Lintou section of the G5011 Wuhu-Hefei Expressway and the Hefei-Dagudian section of the G40 Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway; and implement the reconstruction and expansion of the Mingguang-Bengbu section of the G36 Nanjing-Luoyang Expressway, the Lai'an-Mingguang section of the G36 Nanjing-Luoyang Expressway, the Wuhu-Xuancheng section of the G5011 Wuhu-Hefei Expressway and the Xuancheng-Guangde section of the G50 Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway, expanding a total of 456 km of expressways and significantly improving expressway congestion.

Expressways with six or more lanes to reach 1,100 km by 2025

It is worth noting that, in order to align with territorial spatial planning and comprehensive three-dimensional transport planning and to better guide later project construction, technical standards for expressways have been reserved.

Major corridors linking Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai that also serve important intercity functions, and major radial corridors of the Hefei metropolitan area, will be reserved for two-way eight-lane standards. Secondary corridors linking Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai that also serve important intercity functions, and secondary radial corridors of the Hefei metropolitan area, will be reserved for two-way six-lane standards. New river-crossing channels will be reserved for two-way six-lane standards; exceptionally prominent channels will be reserved for two-way eight-lane standards. General corridors that mainly serve connecting functions and carry relatively small traffic volumes will be reserved for two-way four-lane standards.

The plan calls for Anhui to have 4,571 km of expressways with six or more lanes by 2035 (including 2,653 km with eight lanes), accounting for 45% of the total planned mileage. By 2025, the total mileage of expressways open to traffic will reach 6,800 km, and the mileage of expressways with six or more lanes will reach 1,100 km.

Hefei's transport hub function to be significantly enhanced

By then, major corridors linking Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai that also serve important intercity functions, and major radial corridors of the Hefei metropolitan area, will have been fully expanded and reconstructed, and the province's total mileage of eight-lane expressways will reach 2,653 km, significantly improving expressway congestion.

Hefei's transport hub function will be significantly enhanced. Hefei will have 19 outward radial expressway exit corridors, with more than two expressway connections to neighboring provincial capitals and to prefecture-level cities within the province, markedly strengthening the radiating capacity of the provincial capital.

The layout of expressway river crossings will be further improved. Three new expressway river-crossing channels will be added: the Chizhou Dongliu Yangtze River Highway Bridge, the Tongling Development Zone river-crossing channel and the Chizhou Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge. By 2035, there will be 15 expressway river-crossing channels (including the Wuhu Yangtze River Highway-Railway Bridge and the Tongling Yangtze River Highway Bridge, which are ordinary highway bridges).