In June this year, Fujian took the lead nationwide in implementing the "Two Connections Project," comprising "expressway access for neighboring counties" and "convenient access for townships." On the 15th, the provincial "Two Connections Project" construction promotion meeting was held to make an all-out effort to advance the commencement of 27 engineering projects and continue promoting the start of construction of 13 projects in December. It is reported that all 40 projects belong to the "convenient access for townships" initiative, which, through three approaches—adding expressway entrances and exits, adding service area entrances and exits, and building or reconstructing expressway interchange connecting roads—advances the goal of enabling more important traffic distribution nodes to reach expressways conveniently within 30 minutes. It is expected that by the end of this year, 16 new service area entrance/exit toll stations will be opened.

As a foundational, livelihood, and popular-support project deployed and promoted by the provincial Party committee and provincial government, the "Two Connections Project" is of great significance for further optimizing and improving Fujian Province's expressway network and enhancing traffic efficiency, promoting coordinated regional and urban-rural development, and supporting rural revitalization. Centering on the goal of "promoting 100% convenient expressway access between neighboring counties, and enabling more land-area townships, important tourist attractions, important industrial parks, important transportation hubs, and other traffic distribution nodes to reach expressways within 30 minutes," the "Two Connections Project" plans 132 transportation infrastructure projects with a total investment of 296.3 billion yuan. To date, 7 have been completed, 28 are under construction, and a cumulative investment of 26.53 billion yuan has been made.

Next, Fujian Province will anchor itself to its work goals and make every effort to accelerate and improve the efficiency of "Two Connections Project" construction: strengthen preliminary planning and approval of projects and scientific planning, simplifying approval procedures wherever possible, reducing them wherever possible, and speeding them up wherever possible; accelerate the construction of newly started projects, establish a collaborative work mechanism, increase input of production factors, vigorously broaden financing channels, and fulfill responsibilities for project investment, construction, and safety management; continue to advance projects already under construction, adopt measures tailored to specific conditions, and firmly assign responsibilities to ensure project quality and safety. It is expected that by 2025, the province will achieve convenient expressway access for 213 pairs of neighboring counties, accounting for 85.9%, and enable 90% of land-area townships, 90% of important tourist attractions, 100% of important industrial parks, and 100% of important transportation hubs to access expressways within 30 minutes.