The government will allocate significant funds to build new expressways connecting existing ones surrounding the province’s capital, creating more convenient traffic conditions to aid development, a top economic planner in Hebei said.

The Development and Reform Committee of Hebei has recently approved a project to build and extend new high-peed roads around Shijiazhuang, especially in the southern part. The total investment will reach 12.9 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), 3.6 billon yuan of which will come from the Shijiazhuang municipal government and traffic bureau and the rest from bank loans.

An official in charge of the project from the development and reform committee said the provincial capital sees the northern area across the Hutuo River and new development zone in Zhengding county as a major engine for the future economy. When the zone grows, the existing expressway network will highlight the insufficient transportation infrastructure in southwestern areas. More high-speed roads running through the south are being planned in order to handle the increasing demand.

This new southern part of the expressway, with a length of 53 kilometers, will help create a circular expressway network outside the city. There will also be two major routes running through the city in four directions.

The new road will feature six new toll stations and other supplemental designs, including 10 new interchanges and two new service areas for vehicles.

The project contains five parts, a vertical main route connecting Pingshan and Zanhuang (two counties in the provincial capital), a branch expressway, subsidiary highways, roads connecting downtown to the circle ring, and a road connecting Jingxing (a county west of Shijiazhuang). According to the 12th Five-Year Plan for comprehensive transport system development of Shijiazhuang, the total mileage of highways in the city will reach 1,000 kilometers, completing a convenient traffic network that allows travelers to reach neighboring counties within half an hour and neighboring cities within one hour by the end of 2015.