Today China is one of the most progressive countries in the world. Despite the fact that roads in China began to be actively built relatively recently - since 1984 (before that it was believed that there were more important things to do), today they are high-quality, widely branched and amaze with their pace of construction.
Why so fast
Since China began to develop, the government has come to the conclusion that it is impossible to establish production and marketing if the country does not have high-quality routes for the rapid delivery of raw materials and goods. It was decided that a large part of the budget should be spent on road construction. The most ambitious work was carried out in the period from 2005 to 2010, it spent about 17-18 billion dollars per year. At the moment, about 12 billion dollars are annually invested in the construction of roads.
Today, the speed of road construction in China is about 750 meters in one hour. Many may think that some special technology is used in the country, but no - this is the result of the correct organization of labor. Roads are made not by a government organization, but by a contractor who does all the work at his own expense. He receives payment only upon completion of all the work stipulated in the contract. This encourages him to work faster. But such a rate does not lead to a decrease in quality, because the contractor provides a warranty period of service, which on average is 25 years.
Classification of Chinese roads
Roads in China can be divided into several types, depending on the classifier. Depending on the width: high-speed - 25 m; 1st class - 25.5 m; 2nd class - 12 m; 3rd class - 8.5 m; 4th class - 7 m. Management: national; provincial; county; urban; village; special purpose.
Fare payment
Most roadways in China are free to travel. Paid ones are divided into two types: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built by contractors for their own money or at the expense of private firms). State roads become free after 15 years of operation, and commercial ones after 25.
The fee depends on the type of road, time of year and day. The approximate fare per kilometer is from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan. Unlike European countries or Japan, which is in the neighborhood, all roads in Chinese cities are free, even if these are very large interchanges. But the downside is that there is not always a free alternative to toll roads.
Bridges in China
The active development of transport infrastructure prompted the Chinese to build bridges, which are very difficult and expensive to build. The bridge over the Yangtze River with a length of 32.5 km is built on a deep-water foundation, like many others in this country. It made it possible to connect land with the Shanghai port, which is the largest in the world in terms of turnover, but because of the shallow water of the river, it could not be built closer to the coast. Despite its impressive length, the bridge is not the largest in China, there is even longer - 36.5 km (across the Jiaodzhou Bay). Today the people's republic is busy building the world's longest bridge: Macau-Hong Kong, 58 km long.
