China to double mainland highway network

China transportation officials announced a plan worth RMB4.7 trillion to expand the mainland’s highway network, which will more than double its current size, South China Morning Post reported. The chief planner in the Ministry of Transport’s general planning department said at a press conference Thursday that the expansion will add 227,000km of roads to the current network of 173,000km for a total of 400,000km by 2030. The new highways are to include two north-south major passageways in China’s west, connecting many of the 900 counties that presently do not have direct access to national trunk ways.