Expressways of China

History

Prior to the 1980s, freight and passenger transport activities were predominantly achieved by rail transport rather than by road. The 1980s and 1990s saw a growing trend toward roads as a method of transportation and a shift away from rail transport. In 1978, rail transport accounted for 54.4% of the total freight movement in China, while road transport only accounted for 2.8%. By 1997, road transport's share of freight movement had increased to 13.8% while the railway's share decreased to 34.3%. Similarly, road's share of passenger transport increased from 29.9% to 53.3% within the same time period, with railway's share decreasing from 62.7% to 35.4%. The shift from rail to road can be attributed to the rapid development of the expressway network in China.

On 7 June 1984, China's expressway ambitions began when construction of the Shenyang–Dalian Expressway began between the cities of Shenyang and Dalian. The expressway is now part of the longer G15 Shenyang–Haikou Expressway. Later that year, construction began on the Shanghai–Jiading Expressway in the city of Shanghai. The Shanghai–Jiading Expressway opened on 31 October 1988, becoming the first completed expressway in China.

On 13 January 2005, Zhang Chunxian, China's Minister of Transport announced that China would build a network of 85,000 kilometres (53,000 mi) expressways over the next three decades, connecting all provincial capitals and cities with a population of over 200,000 residents. The announcement introduced the 7918 network (simplified Chinese: 7918网; traditional Chinese: 7918網; pinyin: 7918 wǎng), a grid of 7 radial expressways from Beijing, 9 north-south expressways, and 18 east-west expressways that would form the backbone of the national expressway system. This replaced the earlier proposal for five north-south and seven east-west core routes, proposed in 1992.

Costs

The total costs of the national expressway network are estimated to be 2 trillion yuan (some 300 billion US dollars as rate in 2016). From 2005 to 2010, the annual investment was planned to run from 140 billion yuan (17 billion US dollars) to 150 billion yuan (18 billion US dollars), while from 2010 to 2020, the annual investment planned is to be around 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars).

The construction fund will come from vehicle purchase tax, fees and taxes collected by local governments, state bonds, domestic investment and foreign investment. Unlike other freeway systems, almost all of the roads on the NTHS/"7918 Network" are toll roads that are largely financed by private companies under contract from provincial governments. The private companies raise money through bond and stock offerings and recover money through tolls.

Efforts to impose a national gasoline tax to finance construction of the tollways met with opposition and it has been very difficult for both the Communist Party of China and the State Council to pass such a tax through the National People's Congress of China.

Expressway nomenclature

Neither officially named "motorway" nor "highway", China used to call these roads "freeways". In this sense, the word "free" means that the traffic is free-flowing; that is, cross traffic is grade separated and the traffic on the freeway is not impeded by traffic control devices like traffic lights and stop signs. However, many misinterpret "free" as meaning "no cost", and this may be misleading because most of the expressways charge tolls. Some time in the 1990s, "expressways" became the standardised term.

Note that "highways" refers to China National Highways, which are not expressways at all.

"Express routes" exist too; they are akin to expressways but are mainly inside cities. The "express route" name is a derivation of the Chinese name kuaisu gonglu (compare with expressway, gaosu gonglu). Officially, "expressway" is used for both expressways and express routes, which is also the standard used here.

The names of the individual expressways are regularly composed of two characters representing start and end of expressway, e.g. "Jingcheng" expressway is the expressway between "Jing" (meaning Beijing) and Chengde.

Expressway speed limits

The Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China has raised the speed limit nationwide from 110 km/h to 120 km/h (75 mph), effective May 1, 2004.

A minimum speed limit of 70 km/h is in force. On overtaking lanes, however, this could be as high as 100 km/h to 110 km/h. Penalties for driving both below and in excess of the prescribed speed limits are enforced.

Expressway legislation

Only motor vehicles are allowed to enter expressways. As of May 1, 2004, "new drivers" (i.e., those with a Chinese driver's licence for less than a year) are allowed on expressways, something that was prohibited from the mid-1990s.

Overtaking on the right, speeding, and illegal use of the emergency belt (or hard shoulder) cost violators stiff penalties.

Expressway signage

Expressways in China are signed in both Simplified Chinese and English (except for parts of the Jingshi Expressway, which relies only on Chinese characters, and some provinces, in Inner Mongolia for example signs are in Mongolian and Chinese, and in XUAR the signs are in Chinese and Uyghur Language which uses Perso-Arabic Alphabet). This sharply reduces the language barrier; however, very few toll officials at toll gates speak English.

The signs on Chinese expressways use white lettering on a green background, like Japanese highways, Swiss autobahns and United States freeways. Newer signage places the exit number in an exit tab to the upper right of the sign, making them very similar in appearance to American freeway signs.

Exits are well indicated, with signs far ahead of exits. There are frequent signs that announce the next three exits. At each exit, there is a sign with the distance to the next exit. Exit signs are also posted 3000 m, 2000 m, 1000 m, and 500 m ahead of the exit, immediately before the exit, and at the exit itself.

Service areas and refreshment areas are standard on some of the older, more established expressways, and are expanding in number. Gas stations are frequent.

Signs indicate exits, toll gates, service/refreshment areas, intersections, and also warn about keeping a fair distance apart. "Distance checks" are commonplace; the idea here is to keep the two-second rule (or, as Chinese law requires, at least a 100 m distance between cars). Speed checks and speed traps are often signposted (in fact, on the Jingshen Expressway in the Beijing section, even the cameras have a warning sign above them), but some may just be scarecrow signs. Signs urging drivers to slow down, warning about hilly terrain, banning driving in emergency lanes, or about different road surfaces are also present. Also appearing from time to time are signs signaling the overtaking lane (which legally should only be used to pass other cars). Although most English signs are comprehensible, occasionally the English is garbled.

Many expressways have digital displays. These displays may advise against speeding, indicate upcoming road construction, warn of traffic jams, or alert drivers to rain. Recommended detours are also signaled. The great majority of messages are only in Chinese.

Expressway exit numbering

Exit numbering has been standardised in China from its inception. Most Chinese expressways, especially those in the national network, use distance-based exit numbering, with the last three numbers before the decimal point taken used as the exit number. Hence, an exit present at km 982.7 would be Exit 982, whereas an exit at km 3,121.2 would be Exit 121. Unlike American exit numbering systems that reset at each state line a freeway crosses, exits on Chinese expressways increase along the total length of the freeway, regardless of how many provincial boundaries the expressway crosses.

Mostly regional expressways still use sequential exit numbering, although even here, new signage feature distance-based exit numbering. Before the 2009–2010 numbering switchover, nearly all of China's expressways used sequential numbering, and a few expressways used Chinese names outright.

The exit is written inside an oval in green letters to the immediate right of the Chinese word for exit, "出口" (chukou).

Expressway tolls and financing

Nearly all expressways charge tolls. Tolls are roughly around CNY 0.5 per kilometre, and minimum rates (e.g. CNY 5) usually apply regardless of distance. However, some are more expensive (the Jinji Expressway costs around CNY 0.66 per kilometre) and some are less expensive (the Jingshi Expressway in Beijing costs around CNY 0.33 per kilometre). It is noteworthy that cheaper expressways do not necessarily mean poorer roads or a greater risk of traffic congestion.

Expressway planning is performed by the Ministry of Transportation of the People's Republic of China. Unlike the road networks in most nations, most Chinese expressways are not directly owned by the state, but rather are owned by for-profit corporations (which have varying amounts of public and private ownership) which borrow money from banks or securities markets based on revenue from projected tollways. One reason for this is that Chinese provinces, which are responsible for road building, have extremely limited powers to tax and even fewer powers to borrow.

Expressway construction has also been one of the rare instances in which the Communist Party of China and the State Council has had to back down on a major policy initiative. During the late-1990s, there were proposals to fund public highways by means of a fuel tax, but this was voted down by the National People's Congress.

Toll methods

Most expressways use a card system. Upon entrance to an expressway (or to a toll portion of the expressway), an entry card is handed over to the driver. The tolls to be paid are determined from the distance traveled when the driver hands the entry card back to the exit toll gate upon leaving the expressway. A small number of expressways do not use a card system but charge unitary fares. Passage through these expressways is relatively faster but it is economically less advantageous. An example of such an expressway would be the Jingtong Expressway.

China is increasingly deploying a network of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, and in the latest edition of expressway toll gate signage, a new ETC sign is now shown at an increasing number of toll gates. ETC networks based around Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong province all feature either mixed toll passages supporting toll card payment or full-service dedicated ETC lanes. Beijing, in particular, has a dedicated ETC lane at almost all toll gates.

City transit cards are not widely used; one of the first experiments with the Beijing Yikatong Card on what is now the Jingzang Expressway (G6) went live for only a year before a new national standard replaced it in early 2008.

G000 series

A previous system, the 1992 "five vertical + seven horizontal expressways" system, was used for arterial expressways and were, in essence, G0-series expressways (e.g. G020, G025). This was replaced by the present-day new numeric system (see below).

New numbering system

A new system, which dates from 2004 and began use on a nationwide level beginning late 2009 and early 2010, integrates itself into the present-day G-series number system. The present-day network, termed the 7918 Network (also known as the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS)), uses one, two or four digits in the G-series numbering system, leaving three-figured G roads as the China National Highways.

The new 7918 Network is composed of

7 radial expressways leaving Beijing (G1-G7)

9 vertical expressways going north to south (double digit G roads with numbers ending in an odd numeral)

18 horizontal expressways head west to east (double digit G roads with numbers ending in an even numeral)

The network is additionally composed of connection expressways as well as regional and metropolitan ring expressways.

On a nationwide basis, expressways use the G prefix (short for "guojia" in Chinese meaning "national"), as well as the character "国家高速" (National Expressway, white letters on a red stripe on top of the sign). For regional expressways, the prefix S (short for "shengji" or "province-level") is used instead, as well as the one-character abbreviation of the province and "高速" (expressway, black letters on an orange-yellow stripe on top of the sign.) The same numbering system is used for both national and regional expressways.

Numbering rules

All expressways in this network begin with the letter G. (For regional expressways, the letter S is used instead.)

All expressways have a thin band on top of the sign. For national expressways, this will be red; for regional expressways, it will be orange-yellow.

For radial expressways leaving from or ending in Beijing, use a single digit from 1 to 9 (e.g. G1, G2).

For north-south expressways, use an odd number from 11-89 (e.g. G13, G35).

For west-east expressways, use an even number from 10-90 (e.g. G30, G46).

For regional expressways in the 7918 network, use numbers from 91-99 (e.g. G91, G93)

Note: G99 or the Taiwan Ring Expressway is currently a theoretical expressway based in Taiwan Province, which is claimed by the People's Republic of China, but is actually administered by the Republic of China. (In addition, the ROC has not built the eastern half as an expressway.) See Political status of Taiwan. See also Highway System in Taiwan for the current Republic of China-maintained Taiwan freeway system, which uses a different numbering system.

For the parallel expressways running alongside primary expressways, add the direction signal "W", "E", "N", "S" after the primary expressway number (e.g. G4W).

For connection expressways, use "1" plus an order number after the main line (e.g. G1511).

For city ring expressways, use "0" plus an order number after the main line number, starting from the smallest possible number.

NTHS Expressways

Bold text indicates primary expressways, whereas ordinary text denotes branch or auxiliary expressways.

Regional expressways

Numbered: All expressways are ordered by number. Unnumbered: All expressways are ordered by direction, starting from north or east.

Former numbers (before 2013):

S1 Lanzhou-Yingpanguan / Lanying Expressway

S2 Lanzhou-Langmusi / Lanlang Expressway

S11 Qingcheng - Wuqi / Qingwu Expressway

S13 Pingliang - Baoji / Pingbao Expressway

S15 Pingliang - Wudu / Pingwu Expressway

S10 Wuwei-Jinchang / Wujin Expressway

S12 Baiyin-Zhongchuan Airport / Baizhong Expressway

Hainan

S10 Wenchang–Danzhou Expressway

S11 Haikou–Wenchang Expressway

S20 Wanning–Yangpu Expressway

S21 Haikou–Sanya Expressway

S81 Haikou Connecting Line

S82 Haikou Airport Expressway

S83 Sanya East Connecting Line

S84 Sanya West Connecting Line

Hebei

S10 Zhangshi Expressway

S11 Chengde–Qinhuangdao Expressway

S23 Qianxi Branch Line

S24 Langfang–Zhuozhou Expressway

S26 Tangshan–Langfang Expressway

S31 Duolun–Chengde Expressway

S32 Xuanhua–Datong Expressway

S33 Chengde–Pinggu Expressway

S41 Tangshan–Caofeidao Expressway

S42 Yanhai Expressway

S43 Langfang–Cangzhou Expressway

S52 Baoding–Fuping Expressway

S71 Fuping–Shijiazhuang Expressway

S72 Hengshui–Dezhou Expressway

S81 Shijiazhuang–Linzhou Expressway

S82 Xingtai–Linqing Expressway

S84 Handan–Damiao Expressway

S0101 Miyun–Zhuozhou Expressway

S0102 Xianghe–Wuqing Expressway

S0104 Tangshan–Fengrun Expressway

S0105 Tangshan–Tianjin Expressway

S0106 Beidaihe Connecting Line

S0111 Tanggang Expressway

S0201 Nangang Expressway

S0411 Baoding–Cangzhou Expressway

S2501 Chengde–Beijing Expressway

S2502 Chengde City Ring Expressway

S4501 Chengde City Ring Expressway

S4502 Xiongxian Expressway

S9902 Xinle-Yuanshi Expressway

S9961 Qingdongling Branch Line

Zhangshi Expressway

Jilin

S10 Tonghua–Shenyang Expressway

S20 Wuchang–Horqin Expressway

S22 Dapuchaihe–Horqin Expressway

S26 Fusong–Changchun Expressway

S47 Nenjiang–Dandong Expressway

S96 Changchun Area Ring Expressway

S1116 Wangqing–Dapuchaihe Expressway

S1118 Songjiang–Changbaishan Expressway

S2610 Huinan–Linjiang Expressway

S2611 Yingchengzi–Dongfeng Expressway

S2612 Yitong–Liaoyuan Expressway

S2613 Yitong--Liaoyang Expressway

Tibet

S1 Lhasa–Gonggar Expressway

Hong Kong and Macau

There are 160.9 kilometres (100.0 mi) of expressways in Hong Kong. Macau has fewer than 50 kilometres (31 mi) of highways, many of which are partially controlled access.

For more see Expressways in Hong Kong and Highways in Macau.