On January 15, the reporter learned that this year the Meigu to Zhaojue section of the Leshan to Xichang Expressway (referred to as the "Lexi Expressway") will be completed and opened to traffic, and the two underdeveloped counties of Meigu and Zhaojue will welcome their first expressway.

Sichuan Expressway Construction & Development Group (Chuangao Company) is the main force and vanguard of expressway construction and operation in Sichuan Province. On that day, Chuangao Company held its 2024 annual work conference and set this year's construction goals: it will make every effort to advance 14 key construction projects, striving to build more roads and build them well; it plans to ensure investment in expressway projects reaches 67.2 billion yuan, with 248 kilometers opened to traffic, with both investment and mileage opened to traffic accounting for half of the province's expressway construction.

　　Multiple expressways (sections) involving Chengdu will open to traffic this year

　　Among the projects (sections) planned to open to traffic, the Lexi Expressway is included. The Lexi Expressway is a major corridor deep into the heart of the Daliang Mountains and the second expressway corridor from the Chengdu Plain to the Panxi region, and is regarded as a duplicate line of the Ya'an-Xichang Expressway. The 152-kilometer Mabian to Zhaojue section of the Lexi Expressway, invested and built by Chuangao Company, connects the underdeveloped counties of Mabian, Meigu, and Zhaojue, and is a veritable economic "artery."

　　Lan Fu'an, chairman of Lexi Company, introduced that the 54-kilometer Meigu to Zhaojue section of the Lexi Expressway will be completed and opened to traffic in 2024, at which time Meigu and Zhaojue counties will bid farewell to the history of having no expressway; the Daliang Mountain No. 1 Tunnel and Dafengding Tunnel, key projects of the entire line, are expected to be holed through within the year. "Construction is being advanced at full speed, the schedule is currently controllable, and the entire line is expected to open to traffic in 2025." He also disclosed that during the construction of the Lexi Expressway, a smart expressway was simultaneously built; after completion, the expressway from the Chengdu Plain to the Panxi region is expected to bid farewell to holiday congestion and road closures and achieve all-weather passage.

　　The much-watched Chengdu to Mianyang Expressway expansion project will also achieve full-line opening to traffic in 2024. This is another high-standard expressway in Sichuan with eight lanes in both directions and a maximum design speed of 120 km/h, quickly linking the Chengdu metropolitan area. Wang Shifa, chairman of the Chengdu Branch of Chengdu-Mianyang-Cangxi-Bazhong Expressway Company, introduced that in 2023, 55 kilometers of the Chengdu-Mianyang expansion project were completed and opened to traffic, and in the second quarter of this year another 26 kilometers will be completed and opened to traffic, at which time the Mianyang to Deyang Guanghan section will be connected by an eight-lane expressway; by the end of the year, the remaining 44 kilometers will all be completed and opened to traffic.

　　Another expansion project—the urban entry section of the Chengdu-Nanchong Expressway expansion—will be completed and opened to traffic in the second quarter of this year. Su Kaichun, chairman of Chengnan Company, introduced that the original Chengdu-Nanchong Expressway and Chengdu-Bazhong Expressway shared the urban entry section; the Chengdu-Nanchong Expressway is the starting section of the Shanghai-Chengdu corridor and has a large traffic volume. During the expansion and reconstruction, in order to improve the expressway network, a new six-lane connecting line in both directions was built between the Chengdu-Bazhong Expressway and the Ring Expressway, at which time vehicles can directly transfer from the newly built Longgang interchange of the Ring Expressway to the Chengdu-Bazhong Expressway.

　　Multiple expressway expansion projects fully commence construction

　　The work conference also disclosed that a number of closely watched expressway projects will fully commence construction this year.

　　The Chengdu-Chongqing expansion and Suining-Chongqing expansion, key projects of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle expressway cluster, are among them, and the two projects will achieve breakthrough progress within the year. Zhao Feizhou, chairman of Chengneiyu Company, introduced that the Chengdu-Chongqing expansion project has a total length of 190 kilometers and is built to high standards with eight lanes in both directions and a maximum design speed of 120 km/h, of which the newly built section reaches 146 kilometers. At present, the project construction drawings have been approved, and preliminary work such as land acquisition and demolition is underway, with construction expected to commence as early as July. The Suining-Chongqing expansion project, invested and built by Chengnan Company, is also undergoing preliminary work such as land approval and will fully commence construction within the year. The two expansion projects are expected to complete investment of 10 billion yuan within the year.

　　The Hanguang expansion project (Guangyuan to the Sichuan-Shaanxi border of the Guangyuan-Shaanxi Expressway) is also one of them. This means that the major expressway corridor from Chengdu northward—Chengdu to Mianyang, Mianyang to Guangyuan, and Guangyuan to Hanzhong (Sichuan-Shaanxi border)—has fully commenced expansion construction and can be completed by 2027 at the latest.

　　Dong Shengyong, chairman of Guangmian Company, introduced that the Mianyang-Guangyuan and Hanzhong-Guangyuan expansion projects, though named expansions, are actually a newly built six-lane expressway in both directions 30–50 kilometers east of the existing Sichuan-Shaanxi Expressway, with design speeds of 120 km/h and 100 km/h. After all are completed, they will run parallel to the existing Sichuan-Shaanxi Expressway and form two northbound out-of-province corridors, greatly alleviating the current traffic congestion. At present, the Mianyang-Guangyuan expansion project has fully commenced construction, and this year it strives to complete all roadbed work, complete 90% of bridge substructure construction, and hole through the vast majority of tunnels; the Hanzhong-Guangyuan expansion project strives to fully commence construction in the first quarter.