The reporter recently learned from the Department of Transport that 15 expressway projects (sections) in Sichuan are scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in 2025, totaling 900 kilometers in length. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Sichuan has newly built over 3,000 kilometers of expressways. By the end of this year, the total length of expressways open to traffic in the province will reach 11,000 kilometers, ranking among the top three in the country.

Each expressway stands as a testament to Sichuan's journey from the historically arduous "roads to Shu" to today's accessible routes and forward momentum toward a future of seamless and smooth connectivity. They are not only a microcosm of the province's transportation transformation but also a crucial pillar supporting its new leaps in economic and social development.

In service of the national strategy, the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle has forged stronger connectivity. By the end of this month, the Tongzi Expressway (from Tongliang in Chongqing to Zizhong in Sichuan) will open to traffic along its entire route. This marks the 17th expressway connecting Sichuan and Chongqing. At present, travel time between neighboring cities in Sichuan and Chongqing has been reduced to roughly one hour. By the end of the year, the number of major expressway corridors leading out of Sichuan is projected to reach 37, and the strategic "four-way and eight-corridor" comprehensive transportation network will be largely completed.

With the expansion and upgrade of corridors, the traffic efficiency within the Chengdu metropolitan area has improved. By the end of this year, the Chengdu-Nanchong Expressway expansion project—spanning over 240 kilometers—will be fully open to traffic. This project represents Sichuan's largest and longest in-situ highway expansion endeavor to date and will become the province's longest eight-lane expressway. Currently, six of Chengdu's 15 radial expressways are being widened to eight lanes. The Chengdu metropolitan area has largely achieved a one-hour commute range.

With key transport network gaps filled, three counties have bid farewell to the era of having no expressway access. This year, the Mabian-Zhaojue section of the Leshan-Xichang Expressway will be completed and opened to traffic. As Sichuan's first all-weather transportation corridor reaching deep into the heart of the Daliang and Xiaoliang Mountains, it will bring an end to Leibo County's history of lacking expressway access. Another 87 kilometers of the Jiuzhi-Ma'erkang Expressway will open, concluding the era without expressways in Hongyuan County, Aba Prefecture. Furthermore, partial sections of the Jinyang-Ningnan stretch of the Yibin-Panzhihua Expressway will commence operation, finally linking Jinyang County in Liangshan Prefecture to the expressway network. It is projected that by year-end, the number of counties (county-level cities, districts) in Sichuan with expressway access will reach 152.

By promoting the integration of transportation and tourism, Sichuan transforms its expressways into direct pathways to "poetry and the distant horizon". The Jiuzhaigou-Mianyang Expressway, which opened in September this year, connects over 30 premium cultural and tourism sites, including Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong, creating an integrated transport-tourism landscape where "every mile offers a view, every road leads to a scene, and the entire journey is oriented toward scenic beauty". The Luding-Shimian Expressway, scheduled to partially open by the end of the year, will provide direct expressway access to the Hailuogou Scenic Area, reducing the drive from Chengdu to Hailuogou to just 3.5 hours.

In adherence to the principle of ecological priority, engineering construction progresses in tandem with environmental protection. The Jiuzhaigou-Mianyang Expressway traverses the Wanglang area of the Giant Panda National Park. The expressway's bridge-and-tunnel ratio reaches 95 percent along its 90-kilometer-plus route, yet the project footprint accounts for a mere 0.027 percent of the Minshan area in the Giant Panda National Park. The Leshan-Xichang Expressway passes through a dense growth area of the dove tree (Davidia involucrata), often called the "panda of the plant world". Sichuan has, for the first time nationwide, carried out large-scale transplanting of dove trees, achieving a survival rate exceeding 90 percent after three years. The Jiuzhi-Ma'erkang Expressway, with an average elevation exceeding 3,000 meters, is designated by the Ministry of Transport as a technological demonstration project for "Plateau Ecological and Environmental Protection". It has skillfully engineered an ecologically sensitive and technologically sophisticated roadway across the plateau's frozen terrain.

This year, Sichuan completed more than 268 billion yuan in highway and waterway investments, a record high. Sichuan's cumulative investment in road and waterway construction during the 14th Five-Year Plan period reached a historic high of over one trillion yuan. Following the 13th Five-Year Plan, it once again leads the nation, setting records by exceeding 200 billion yuan in annual investment for four consecutive years and surpassing 100 billion yuan for 14 consecutive years.