北京至新疆公路大通道贯通

The Beijing-Xinjiang expressway (G7), which links Beijing and Urumqi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, opens to traffic on Saturday. 

It will shorten the existing mileage between Beijing and Urumqi by 1,300 kilometers.

The expressway is the fastest and most convenient way to access the sea for the northwestern inland region, connecting Xinjiang's inland Horgos Port and Tianjin Port in the east.

It is also designed to be an important component of the New Asian-European Land Bridge under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The new expressway has a length of 2,582 kilometers, and crosses Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Gansu Province.

It is an expressway with the longest section of road across a desert landscape in the world, as it crosses the Badain Jaran Desert, the third largest desert by size in China, and the Gobi Desert, the world's fifth largest desert.

The Beijing-Xinjiang expressway has been jointly built by three state-owned transportation infrastructure groups, namely China state Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd., China railway Group Limited, and China Communications Construction company Limited.

As of the end of 2016, the traffic mileage of China's expressways reached 131,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. 

By 2020, China will have 30,000 kilometers of newly renovated expressways, and the national expressway network will be completed.