This Day, That Year: July 11

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

In July 1990, the Shenyang-Dalian Expressway was built after six years under construction, as seen in the item from China Daily.

It was one of the country's first expressways.

Opened to traffic on Sept 1, 1990, it stretched 375 kilometers, with a four-lane dual carriageway, linking Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning province.

In 2004, the expressway was upgraded to eight lanes.

The expressway marked the start of the country's massive plan to upgrade its road network.

By the end of last year, the total length of China's expressways reached 142,600 km, according to data from the Ministry of Transport.

The country has the world's largest expressway system by length, having surpassed the overall length of the American Interstate Highway System in 2011.

By 2020, the network is expected to reach 169,000 km, according to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

To embrace new vehicle features, such as autonomous driving, connectivity and electrification, a "smart "highway dedicated to autonomous vehicles has been launched in Shandong province. The 26-km highway, built with technologies needed for unmanned driving, including 5G systems, three-dimensional maps and road sensors, will be opened this year.

Apart from Shandong, many of other areas, including Zhejiang, Hebei and Gansu provinces are pushing forward "smart" highways to rev up the public rollout of unmanned cars.

In Zhejiang, a "smart" highway between Hangzhou and Ningbo will be open by 2022. The 161-km six-lane expressway can cater to speeds of 120 kilometers per hour.

Also, the route will be embedded with technologies including navigation and cloud computing to provide real-time services for the driverless vehicles.

In April, a freeway linking Beijing and the Xiongan New Area in Hebei began construction. The 100-km freeway will soon be open to two-way traffic, with two of the eight lanes specially designed for autonomous vehicles.