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Highways of China

Construction of highway infrastructure before the start of the opening-up reform policy

In old China, highways and traffic on them were in an extremely backward condition; in 1949, the total length of highways suitable for transport in the entire country was only 80.7 thousand km, the density of roads was only 0.8 km／100 km 2. At the initial stage of the creation of the People's Republic of China, having survived the restoration stage, roads received significant development; in 1952, the length of roads was 126.7 thousand km. In the mid and late 50s, based on the needs of economic development and development of border areas, China began large-scale construction of roads to the border and mountainous regions of the country, the Sichuan - Tibet, Qinghai - Tibet highways were built, also in the southeastern, In the coastal, northeastern and southwestern regions of the country, roads were built for defense purposes; the length of roads increased sharply and in 1959 amounted to more than 500 thousand kilometers.

In the 1960s, along with continued large-scale road construction, technical re-equipment was intensified, resulting in a noticeable increase in the length of paved roads, as well as the percentage of roads with premium and high-class pavement. In the mid-70s, China began the technical re-equipment of the Qinghai-Tibet highway, which was fully completed in the 80s, thus building an asphalt road with the highest altitude in the world. Along with the development of road construction, the construction of highway bridges also developed, and a whole group of bridges with Chinese characteristics were built: stone arch bridges, double-bend arch bridges, reinforced concrete arch bridges, and a variety of prestressed concrete and beam bridges. In the thirty-year period from 1949 to 1978, despite the vicissitudes of economic development, the length of the country's roads generally continued to grow at a stable pace and at the end of 1978 amounted to 890 thousand km, which means an average annual increase of 30 thousand km; The road density has reached 9.3 km／100 km 2 .

Construction of highway infrastructure after the start of the opening-up reform policy

After China's opening-up reform policy began, the country's economy continued to develop at high speed, accompanied by an unprecedented increase in the need for road transportation; in the construction of highway infrastructure, a historical turning point occurred, which is reflected in the following: road construction began to be actively supported by both the central government and local government at all its levels, as it was said then, “if we want to get rich, we must first build roads”; gradually the importance of road construction became a generally accepted fact throughout society. Based on unified planning, planned construction of road infrastructure began throughout the country. In the early and late 1980s, the State Highway Network Plan and the National Expressway System were adopted and implemented, giving road construction a clear overall goal and objectives at each stage; Along with the continued expansion of road construction, raising the level of quality has become a priority. The rapid development of expressways and other high-quality highways has revolutionized the once backward industry of road construction; The financing channels for road construction were diversified, which gradually solved the problem of the lack of funds in road construction, especially with the State Council's decision in 1984 to increase road maintenance fees, begin collecting additional fees for car purchases, and authorize the introduction of a toll on high-end highways. to return the loan; Beginning in 1985, legislation followed to provide a stable source of funding for road construction. According to statistics, by 1999 the total length of the country's highways amounted to 1 million 350 thousand km, the road density reached 14.1 km／100 km 2, which is 1.5 times more than in 1978. The percentage of second class roads among all roads in the country increased from 1.3% in 1979 to 12.5% ​​in 1999. The improvement in the condition of roads connecting the main cities became especially clear, and the issue of traffic tension was resolved. At the same time, the length of county and rural roads grew rapidly, as well as their quality improved; in some provinces, 100% asphalt was laid on roads, with technologies corresponding to the second class level; In the country, roads were built between 100% of counties, 98% of villages and 89% of administrative villages. In general, we can say that a network of highways covering the entire country has emerged, consisting of rationally located main and auxiliary roads connected together.

The construction of expressways deserves special attention. Expressways represent a notable achievement of road construction in China since the opening-up reform policy began. In 1988, China's first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km long), was put into operation. After that, the Shenyang-Dalian Expressway with a total length of 375 km and the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway with a total length of 143 km were built one after another. Since the beginning of the 1990s, as part of the overall construction plan for national expressways, expressway construction in China has begun to pick up pace, and the length of expressways built annually has increased from several tens of kilometers to more than a thousand kilometers. By the end of 1999, the total length of China's operational expressways had already reached 11,605 km. In just 10 years, the construction of expressways in China has achieved results that took developed countries a total of 40 years. The construction of expressways and other high-quality highways has raised the technical standard of road construction in China, moving away from the backward state of the road construction industry, and at the same time significantly narrowing the gap between China and developed countries.

The rapid development of high-class roads has put forward quite high demands on the construction of road bridges and tunnels, and contributed to an increase in the number and improvement of the technical level of road bridges and tunnels. In China, a number of highly complex bridges with deep foundations and long spans have been built across major rivers and some straits, such as the Huangshi Bridge on the Yangtze River (the first major bridge across the Yangtze River, independently designed and built by the Chinese Ministry of Transport), Wanxian Bridge on the Yangtze River, Tongling Bridge on the Yangtze River, Jiangyin Bridge on the Yangtze River (the first steel suspension bridge in China and the fourth longest span in the world), Second Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, Fenglindu Bridge over the Yellow River, Second Jinan Bridge over the Yellow River , Humen Great Bridge in Guangdong, Niugushan Sea Bridge in Shandong, Haicang Bridge in Xiamen and others. These projects are evidence that China has already become one of the world's leading countries in the construction of bridges with deep foundations and long spans. By the end of 1999, the number of road bridges in the country already numbered 230 thousand, with a total length of 8006 km; the number of tunnels totaled 1257, with a total length of 407 km. The development of the construction of road tunnels in our country began practically from scratch. In 1986, China's first large-scale, advanced, modern road tunnel was built on the Fuzhou-Mawei First Class Highway: the Gushan Double-Lane Tunnel. Following this, a number of large modern road tunnels were built, such as Zhongliangshan, Jiyunshan, Liupanshan, Badaling, etc.

The area covered by rural roads has increased noticeably, after the founding of New China, the country has continuously strengthened the construction of the highway network, the construction of road infrastructure has developed rapidly, simultaneously with the construction of national highways and provincial highways, the pace of construction of expressways and rural highways has accelerated, transportation functions The road networks as a whole have been constantly improving, and overall efficiency has been constantly increasing. By the end of 2008, the total length of highways in China had already reached 3,730 thousand km, including the length of expressways was 60,300 km, first-class highways - 54,200 km, second-class highways - 285,200 km, second-class roads and above occupy 10.72% of the total length of all roads. The technical class of the road surface and the depth of coverage have increased significantly; at the end of 2008, the length of roads with a high and medium-high class of road surface reached 1,995.6 thousand km. Road density increased from 0.84 km／100 km2 in 1949 to 38.86 km／100 km2，which is an increase of 46.26 times compared to 1949. The launch of the Shanghai-Jiading Expressway in 1988 marked a breakthrough in expressway construction in mainland China. After this, the construction of expressways began to advance at an unstoppable pace, creating new record levels: in 1999, the length of expressways exceeded 10,000 km, in 2002 exceeded 20,000 km, in 2004 exceeded 30,000 km, in 2005 exceeded 40,000 km, in 2007 it exceeded 50,000 km, in 2008 it exceeded 60,000 km, consistently ranking second in the world; The speed of expressway development in China has attracted worldwide attention. By the end of 2008, the total length of rural roads in the country amounted to 3,125 thousand km, which is 4 times more than in 1978; The percentage of towns, villages and administrative villages with paved roads increased from 90.5% and 65.8% to 99.24% and 92.86%, respectively.

Road transport from China

750 meters per hour - this is the speed at which new roads are being built in China today. How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and how can our neighbors’ experience help us?

FROM NOWHERE

Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks. The situation began to change in the 1980s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure we could not continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed. We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.

The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.

The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand kilometers. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand kilometers! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million kilometers, including 104.5 thousand expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!

All of China is covered by a network of expressway toll roads, some of which have no free alternative. Drivers pay, but don’t complain: after all, you can quickly get to any point in the country!

SECRET TECHNOLOGIES

The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005–2010, investments in the creation of a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17–18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.

Federal or local authorities completely control construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work has been completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without compromising quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.

MONEY ON THE TABLE

Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years. Toll for cars – from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3–3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks – from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.

I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...

The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island with the mainland with a bridge 32.5 km long. Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.

Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, is quite successful in solving its transport problems. The main “secret of the company” is to build as many new roads and interchanges as possible.

BROTHERS - FOREVER?

How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?

A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new high-speed route Western Europe - Western China (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!

“Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects,” says Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. – We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.

The 32-kilometer Donghai Bridge connects Shanghai with the new deep-water port on Yanshan Island.

It seems that the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait could be the first, but very serious, joint project. Judge for yourself: in difficult conditions it is necessary to build a bridge crossing 19 km long, which will run along a dam across the island of Tuzla to Kerch. The Taman Peninsula, Tuzla and the Crimean coast will be connected by two spans of a two-tier combined road-railway bridge - 1.4 and 6.1 km long. And to approach the bridge, it will be necessary to build at least 40 km of roads in Taman, 8 km of highways in Kerch, 17 km of railways... The bridge will also serve as a support for water pipelines. Unfortunately, we have no experience in constructing facilities of this scale. European companies are no help here - they will not go to Crimea so as not to fall under sanctions. And the Chinese have a lot of experience: they are now building the longest bridge in the world: Macau - Hong Kong. Its length is 58 km.

By the way, on average, the construction of 1 km of four-lane highway in China costs $2.9 million. We have about $7 million, but this includes funds for the purchase of land, the transfer of communications and other expenses, which amount to 40–50% of the total amount. So the prices are comparable. But for some reason the results are different: in our country a little more than 600 km of roads are built a year, and in China – up to 10,000 km! True, in China they invested up to 4% of GDP in road construction, and in our country - only 1%... So it turns out that now the total length of paved roads in China is 4.5 times greater than in Russia. But 30 years ago the Chinese had nothing to brag about. Maybe in a few decades they will improve our roads too?

Watching the road vicissitudes in our country, one cannot help but wonder, what is the situation with toll roads in China? How does a country, densely populated in the east and economically less developed in the west, solve the problem of building high-speed toll highways and their maintenance? And how much does it cost the state and motorists?

The Chinese toll road has a capacity of 25 thousand to 100 thousand vehicles per year. It has two directions of traffic with a divider, at least two lanes for each direction, entry and exit, and control points. Cars move at an average speed of 120 km/h. Signs in China, as well as in Taiwan, Korea, USA, Canada and Japan, are green. In Hong Kong, blue was used until the 90s, like in the UK, but was later replaced by green.

In China, the construction of such roads is carried out in parallel with the construction of conventional highways. Despite the fact that the toll road turns out to be safer and 60-70% faster than the usual one, the government believes that in order to maintain social equality it is necessary to offer a worthy alternative to all segments of the population. In addition, toll roads are only part of the overall system for the development of lagging regions in the west of the country.

Source: map.ps123.net

Industrialization and urbanization reached China relatively late. In the West, the boom in road construction occurred in the 30s of the 20th century. The earliest construction of such roads began in Taiwan was in 1970. By 1988, there were only 100 km of high-speed highways in mainland China. In 2015, this figure reached 123,000 km. The pace of construction in 1998-2005 was 4,500 km per year, today it is more than 6,600 km per year. This acceleration is associated not only with new technologies, but also with an increased flow of investments. In 2013, 72.97 billion yuan were invested in toll expressway projects. Every 100 million yuan invested creates 3,900 jobs.

The cost of building 1 km of road in China is 30 million yuan. In high mountain areas and over the sea coast - from 40 million yuan and more. From project approval to commissioning of the facility, it takes approximately 3-5 years, sometimes up to 8 years. Part of the costs is covered by tolls on the new highway, and the other part by government support. The payback period is on average 8-10 years, and the operating period is 25-30 years. In the USA, the service life of roads reaches 40 years.

In addition to investing, the state carries out antimonopoly control, work planning, deals with the legislative framework, inspection and supervision, quality control and compliance with working conditions, and also monitors compliance with cultural and ethical standards in production and during maintenance. As a rule, there is one supervisory authority per province, less often - an association. Road safety is monitored by the police and transport police, who work closely with each other. Well-established companies from the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian enjoy the trust of government authorities.

To collect tolls on expressways, a non-stop electronic toll collection system (ETC, Electronic Toll Collection) is used. This highly efficient system, which is an automatic barrier with a scanner that recognizes the license plate number of passing vehicles, is used all over the world, positively influencing the speed of service on busy sections of highways and reducing noise levels in the city.

In 1995, the technology was approved for use in China, and in 1996, a special committee was created for its dissemination and application. It was decided to introduce the system gradually, so mixed payment acceptance points were equipped: a choice was offered between a live cashier and a soulless scanner. Also, as an experiment, checkpoints were built with and without barriers, with payment immediately or after, according to the photo.

First of all, ETS was used on popular routes in Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces. The experiment showed that the technology has vulnerable software, and also provokes traffic jams and air pollution in places where cars accumulate. In addition, widespread implementation requires the restructuring of existing points. The advantages of the system include compliance with modern standards, reliability of information, practicality, consistency, scale, as well as the possibility of refinement, improvement of technology and elimination of shortcomings in the future. Today, crossing an automatic control line takes on average up to 4 seconds.

Highway to the island Hainan. Photo: Anton Zhideev

A subscription card for paying for travel on expressways can be issued for a month, six months or a year, or you can pay directly from your account upon receipt. In the Beijing area, travel on such a highway will cost 0.4 yuan per 1 km, at some intervals - up to 2 yuan/km. Some roads charge a one-time fee when leaving the highway - from 10 to 30 yuan. The road from Beijing to Fuzhou (1898 km) by car (up to 7 seats) will cost 960 yuan. This payment system operates both between cities and within cities.

There is only one place in China where such a checkpoint system has not been used since 1991: Hainan Island. Here, the “highway tax” is already included in the cost of fuel, which is almost yuan higher than on the mainland. At the time of writing, in Xiamen 93rd gasoline costs 5.54 yuan per liter, 97th 5.92 yuan, and in Haikou 6.68 and 7.08, respectively.

At first glance, it may seem that the construction of expressways in China is proceeding without hitches and bureaucratic delays, and the new toll systems are working with a bang. In the following publications, we will try to understand what problems China faces when building expressways, and how it manages to overcome them.

Other publications about Chinese roads:

: Where does the revenue from toll roads in China go?

FROM NOWHERE

Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks... The situation began to change only in the 80s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure it was impossible to continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed.

We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.

The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.

The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand km. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand km! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million km, including 104.5 thousand km of expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!

All of China is covered by a network of expressway toll roads, some of which have no free alternative. Drivers pay, but don’t complain: after all, you can quickly get to any point in the country!

SECRET TECHNOLOGIES

The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005-2010, investments in creating a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17-18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.

Federal or local authorities completely control construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work has been completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without compromising quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.

MONEY ON THE TABLE

Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years.

Toll for cars - from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3-3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks - from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.

I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...

The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island with the mainland with a bridge 32.5 km long.

Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.

Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, is quite successful in solving its transport problems. The main “secret of the company” is to build as many new roads and interchanges as possible.

BROTHERS - FOREVER?

How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?
A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new Western Europe - Western China highway (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!
“Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects,” said Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. - We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.

Reference

By the way, on average, the construction of 1 km of four-lane highway in China costs $2.9 million. We have about $7 million, but this includes funds for the purchase of land, the transfer of communications and other expenses, which amount to 40–50% of the total amount. So the prices are comparable. But for some reason the results are different: in our country a little more than 600 km of roads are built a year, and in China – up to 10,000 km! True, in China they invested up to 4% of GDP in road construction, and in our country - only 1%... So it turns out that now the total length of paved roads in China is 4.5 times greater than in Russia. But 30 years ago the Chinese had nothing to brag about. Maybe in a few decades they will improve our roads too?

It's no secret that the Chinese economy is developing by leaps and bounds. Of course, the development of the economy, industry and agriculture is unthinkable without the development of construction, services, business and infrastructure development. The transport industry and transport infrastructure have always been, are and will be the engines of economic development of any state. And without the construction of new roads, railways and airports, it is impossible to build a successfully developed modern state.

Today in China, more than 700 meters of roads are built per hour. Think about it. While you sleep at night, another 5-6 kilometers of new modern roads will be built in China. What is this “East Asian miracle” that we can learn from the experience of building new roads from our neighbors?

Almost from scratch

Just fifty years ago, China was a backward country with a predominantly agrarian-oriented economy. There were almost no paved roads, because the Chinese communist authorities believed that there were more pressing problems in the country than the construction of roads and communications.

However, in the 1980s, China realized that without the development of infrastructure, including roads, economic development in the modern world is impossible. The country's authorities have created a plan for the construction of expressways, while developing road quality standards. Funds for road construction were found from the budget of the People's Republic of China, the budget of local authorities, as well as from service fees, additional duties and taxes when purchasing a car, and excise taxes on gasoline. Already during the construction of the first expressways, the Chinese authorities established a monetary fee for travel on the roads in order to repay the loan funds spent on their construction.

The first highway, almost 20 kilometers long, was built in 1988. After this, the pace of road construction begins to grow at a frantic pace from year to year. In 10 years, the PRC has built as many kilometers of roads as it previously took European countries and the United States to build in half a century. The entire transport industry in the country grew before the eyes of the whole world by leaps and bounds. And if earlier roads were built with the help of two hands, a shovel and a wheelbarrow attached to a bicycle, now modern high-tech machines have appeared in the country.

In China they are not even thinking about slowing down the pace of road construction. In 2001, the total length of expressways was 10 thousand km. In 2002 – 20 thousand km, in 2008 – 60 thousand km. In 2014, the total length of highways was more than 4 million kilometers, of which more than 100 thousand kilometers were expressways. The State Program includes a project according to which, by the end of this year, expressways should connect all Chinese cities with a population of at least 200 thousand people. Moreover, along with the construction of roads, China is actively building bridges, crossings and tunnels. There are more than 300 thousand bridges in the country alone! And all this was built in 25 years. Recently, Chinese authorities announced the construction of a bridge from Hong Kong to Macau, between which a high-speed cruise ship covers the distance in two hours.

Modern technologies

The Chinese are famous for being producers rather than inventors. Their construction technologies are borrowed from the experience of road construction in Europe, the USA and Japan. However, the government of the country, scientists and technologists plan in advance the development of the transport network, taking into account priorities in economic development, passenger flows, transport potential of individual regions, etc.

The state and local regional authorities exercise full control over the progress of road construction, but the contractor invests exclusively its own funds in the construction. And only after the facility is put into operation, the state and investors will pay the contractor the full amount in accordance with the signed agreement. And this motivates the companies that take on the work to complete them in the shortest possible time, which is something our construction companies really lack, not only in the field of road construction.

Chinese socialism

Travel on Chinese roads is mostly free. But there are also toll roads – those built with public funds and private ones. For ordinary car owners there is not much difference, however, a state road automatically becomes free after 15 years from the date of commissioning, while a private road - after 25 years. Tolls for passenger cars range from 1 to 3 rubles per kilometer, depending on weather conditions and time of day. For trucks, the toll is in the region of 3-7 rubles per kilometer. But in China, unlike Western Europe and Japan, travel on roads in cities is free. Also, in China, toll roads are always duplicated by free ones, which are also built for budget money.

China's experience for Russia

Already today, China and Russia are actively cooperating in the field of various infrastructure projects. For example, they create border crossing projects together and build them with joint forces and resources from both sides. The plans also include a project to build a bridge from Blagoveshchensk to neighboring Heihe, as well as a bridge from the village. Pokrovka in Transbaikalia to neighboring China across the Amur River.

Many Chinese road construction companies are interested in investing in Russia. They are interested not only in projects in the Far East, Transbaikalia and Buryatia. The Chinese want to participate in the construction of a highway from Western Europe through Russia to the western part of China. Also, two Chinese road construction companies are interested in the Kerch Bridge construction project.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that the construction of four lanes of a one-kilometer highway in China costs less than $3 million. Ours is 7 million. However, we have different legislation and various additional costs for relocating existing infrastructure take up a significant amount of money. Only in China more than 10 thousand kilometers of roads are built per year, and in Russia - 600 kilometers.