Chapter 4 1. Infrastructure and transportation

China's development is accompanied by sustained and rapid economic growth, but it also faces challenges.China's rise and dramatic rise in international stature means continuing to advance nationally.So, to meet the challenges ahead, China is embarking on some amazing plans. The broader goal is to catch up with developed countries in terms of territorial planning policies, support the development of livable cities and promote efficient and environmentally friendly transportation. By 2012, China will surpass the United States in the total length of highways. China plans to build a huge expressway network with a total length of 85,000 kilometers by 2020.It will connect all big cities with a population of more than 200,000, and the expressway network is planned to reach 120,000 kilometers in 2030 and 1,750,000 kilometers in 2050!To achieve this goal, China's annual investment in transportation and highways will total 122 billion euros.

More than 99 percent of Chinese towns and villages have access to roads.At the beginning of 2010, China already ranked second in the world with a total expressway network length of 65,065 kilometers, after the United States. By 2015, a high-speed rail network with a total length of 40,000 kilometers will connect all major cities with a population of more than 500,000. Although China has made great progress in transportation, its infrastructure is still insufficient.It mainly involves areas with the worst traffic conditions but booming development.The next five years will focus on solving this problem.

For China, this is a critical period.In this vast territory, which is quite restricted by terrain, most of the transportation network was built in 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded.Then, starting from the early 1980s, China has been accelerating investment for 30 years! Most cities in China now have airports, some international, and these airports are managed and connected by multiple airlines.Railways (including high-speed rail) connect all provinces in China, including those that are the worst or those that are far away from Beijing or Shanghai. Public transportation is developing rapidly.The number of cars is exploding in all Chinese cities.The aviation sector and all ground infrastructure will do the same, driven by a number of reforms and innovations.

China needs to take into account the future land planning of towns, villages and mountainous areas, taking into account the uneven social and territorial development and the connectivity between cities and provinces.This is the whole plan! Considering the frequent travel of the Chinese—at home, in Asia, and across the world—the travel needs are huge.Huge sums of money have been poured into infrastructure and bold and innovative projects to meet growing demand.