Beijing-Xiongan expressway fully opens to traffic

The Beijing-Xiongan expressway, which connects China's capital city of Beijing and Xiongan New Area in North China's Hebei Province, fully opened to traffic on Thursday.

Stretching 102 kilometers (km), including 27 km in Beijing and 75 km in Hebei, the expressway will decrease travel time from the fifth ring road southwest from Beijing to Xiongan New Area by 30 minutes, to about an hour in total. This makes it the most convenient route connecting the two locations.

It will also provide support for the construction and development of Xiongan New Area, help relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The new expressway complements the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway and the Daqing-Guangzhou Expressway, with distinctive functions.

Along the expressway lies an extra large bridge, the Beijing-Xiongan Bridge, which spans the Yongding River in the Fangshan District of Beijing. The bridge has eight lanes and is 1.62 kilometers long, with the span of the main arch measuring 300 meters.

Smart expressway

The expressway, as a smart expressway demonstration project, has introduced a private 5G network, high-precision positioning provided by China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, digital maps and variable message signs. Additionally, a smart highway monitoring center has been established in its Beijing section.

A private 5G network is a non-public mobile network that can utilize licensed, unlicensed, or shared spectrum.

By comprehensively integrating technologies such as perception, computing and communication, it can provide car owners with better services.

China announced plans to establish the new area on April 1, 2017, which spans the counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei, and is home to Baiyangdian, a major wetland in northern China.

Read more: 6 years on, Xiong'an New Area attains remarkable results in high-quality development