The total expressway mileage in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had surpassed 7,700 km by the end of 2023, according to the regional transport department.

As China's largest provincial-level region in terms of landmass, Xinjiang has invested heavily to improve its transportation. It invested over 83 billion yuan (about $11.58 billion) in transportation infrastructure last year. The region has a complex environment and various terrains such as mountains, deserts, saline-alkali land, rivers, as well as extreme temperatures and geological fault zones, which pose great challenges for road construction.

In 2023, Xinjiang opened around 5,200 km of new roads to traffic, with the total mileage exceeding 220,000 km.

"Xinjiang will further consolidate and optimize a modern road network that is safe, convenient and efficient," said Li Xuedong, deputy head of the department.

Li added that the autonomous region plans to invest 68.5 billion yuan in road construction this year.

(With input from Xinhua)