I. Expressways in Pingdingshan

In July 2002, the first expressway in Pingdingshan city – Pingdingshan section of Xupingnan Expressway broke ground. By December 2008, five expressways had been open to traffic, with a total mileage of 354 kilometers and total investment of 13.4 billion yuan. They are: Pingdingshan section of Xupingnan Expressway, Pingdingshan section of Luoping Expressway, Pinglin Expressway, Pingdingshan section of Zhengshi Expressway and Pingdingshan section of Taiao Expressway.

In addition, the construction of Yewu (Yexian-Wugang) Expressway was started in November 2008. This section is 50.05 kilometers long and its estimated investment is 2.313 billion yuan. It will be open to traffic by the end of 2010.

(I) Pingdingshan section of Xupingnan Expressway

Xupingnan Expressway is an important part of Rizhao-Nanyang Highway, a key trunk highway planned by the State. Its total length is 163 km (including 52 km in the Pingdingshan section) and total investment is 3.8 billion yuan (the investment of the Pingdingshan section is 1.177 billion yuan). This expressway is also an important section of the expressway network of Henan province and a golden passage from the Central China to the southwestern region. It plays an important economic and political role in realizing the rise of the Central China and the great development of the western region.

This project was open to traffic in November 2004, putting an end to the history of no expressway in Pingdingshan city.

(II) Pinglin Expressway

Pinglin Expressway is an important part of Nanjing-Luoyang trunk highway planned by the State and is “one horizontal highway” among the “five vertical highways and four horizontal highways” planned in the trunk highway network of Henan province. The expressway connects Luoyang-Daan Expressway in the west and Luoping Expressway in the east. Its total length is 106.45 km and total investment is 3.6 billion yuan. It was open to traffic in the end of May 2006.

(III) Pingdingshan section of Luoping Expressway

Luoping Expressway and Pinglin Expressway belong to a same route and both are important sections of Nanjing-Luoyang Expressway. The total length is 75.4 km, including 20.8 km in the Pingdingshan section and the total investment is 2.078 billion yuan, including 560 million yuan in the Pingdingshan section. This expressway connects Luohe-Zhuokou Expressway in the east and Pinglin Expressway in the west, is an important latitudinal passage in the expressway network of Henan Province and was opened to the traffic in December 2005.

(IV) Pingdingshan section of Zhengrao Expressway

The Pingdingshan section of Zhengrao Expressway is an important link line in the planned “686” expressway network of Henan province. It is 183 km long in total and passes three cities including Zhengzhou, Xuchang and Pingdingshan, as well as nine countries (county-level cities and districts). Its total investment is 8.8 billion yuan. The Pingdingshan section is 101 km long, with total investment of 4.8 billion yuan. Zhengshi Expressway was built with the sole investment of Henan Zhongyuan Expressway Co., Ltd. and was open to traffic in December 2007.

(V) Pingdingshan section of Taiao Expressway

The Pingdingshan section of Taiao Expressway (the current name is Erguang Expressway), i.e. the Jiliao-Fenshuiling section of Luoyang-Nanyang Expressway is an important section of the seventh vertical highways among the “13 vertical highways and 15 horizontal highways” in the construction plan of national key highways, and an important longitudinal passage in the expressway network planned by Henan province. Its total length is 63.66 km and total investment is 3.3 billion yuan. It was open to traffic in November 2008.

(VI) Yexian-Wugang Expressway

Yexian-Wugang Expressway is an important part of Jiaozhou-Tongbai Expressway. It starts from Yexian county of Pingdingshan city in the north, connects Nanjing-Luoyang Expressway, runs southwards via Yexian county and Wugang city and ends on the border between Pingdingshan city and Zhumadian city. This project is 50.05 km long in total, including 32.5 km in the area of plain and rolling terrain and 18 km in the mountainous and hilly area. The estimated total investment is 2.3 billion yuan, the design subgrade width is 28m, there are two ways and six lanes, the design speed is 120km/h, and there are 13 bridges, 5 interchanges, 8 grade separations without ramps and a service zone. The project started construction in November 2008 and was open to traffic at the end of 2010.

II. Rural highways in Pingdingshan city

By the end of 2009, the traffic mileage of rural highways in Pingdingshan city reached 11789.634 km. By administrative level, there were 1274.278 km long county highways, 2004.513 km long township highways, 8489.596 km long village highways and 21.247 km long special highways; by technical grade, there were 802.555 km long grade-2 highways, 828.04 km long grade-3 highways and 9037.866 km long grade-4 highways and 1121.173 km long substandard highways. The length of the standard highways accounted for 90.5% of the total length. By type of road surface, 6886.245 km long roads had paved road surface, while 4903.389 km long roads didn’t have paved road surface. All administrative villages in the city were accessible through cement (asphalt) roads by the end of 2006, one year before the goal set by the province.