A new expressway linking the busy Yantian port area with Airport-He¡¯ao Expressway opened to the public yesterday.

The Yantian-Paibang Ex-pressway, the city¡¯s first road built to handle port traffic, is expected to carry 90 percent of the traffic load around the Yantian port area. It will greatly reduce the traffic burden in the city¡¯s downtown area caused by container trucks.

The 15.2-kilometer, six-lane road was built at a cost of 1.22 billion yuan (US$153 million). It includes 27 bridges and two tunnels, with the total length of bridges and tunnels accounting for half of the entire road. Construction on the road started in 2003.

The expressway is part of the city¡¯s plan to build a highway network with ¡°one horizontal road and eight vertical roads¡± by 2010.

Editor: Yan