[Explanation] The 318.5-km Uwei Highway from Urumqi, Xinjiang ’s capital to Weili County, southern Xinjiang, has begun to resume production recently. 395 builders arrived from production sites in Beijing, Xi'an, and Chongqing. This move is also One of the first "point-to-point" charter flights to return to work.

Wuwei Highway is another major highway linking North and South Xinjiang. After its completion, the distance from Urumqi to Korla in South Xinjiang was shortened from the past 7 hours to 3 hours, which not only reduced the detour roads, but also effectively Improved transportation patterns in North and South Xinjiang.

At 3200 meters above sea level, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel at the key bidding section of the project, workers who have just returned to work are hurrying to catch up with the construction period to ensure the project goes smoothly. It is understood that the tunnel project is the longest highway tunnel in the world, with a total length of 22 kilometers. The double main tunnel adopts the drilling and blasting method. The construction of the main tunnel of the tunnel realizes the long tunnel and the short tunnel through the auxiliary working surface of the middle guide tunnel. This process is also the first application of the highway tunnel construction in China.

[Contemporary] Li Yalong, Project Manager of the 6th Xinjiang Weiwei Project

This process is used for the first time in China (highway field). The longest shaft is 702 meters long and it is the deepest ventilation shaft in the world.

[Explanation] The key project in Xinjiang, the Uwei Project is currently the largest highway PPP project under construction in China, and the estimated total investment of the project is about 76 billion yuan.

In addition, according to the official website of the Xinjiang Transportation Department, on March 18, the Xinjiang Transportation Department held a first conference on the construction of Xinjiang highway projects in 2020 in the form of a video conference call. The meeting demanded that the time delay of the epidemic situation be taken back, the progress of the project that was delayed by the epidemic situation be taken back, and the losses caused by the epidemic situation be made up to ensure that the annual highway project construction tasks are completed on schedule and with high quality.

In 2020, Xinjiang ’s transportation infrastructure investment will be 54.2 billion yuan, of which 35 are for continued construction and 14 are for new construction. During the year, 1,482 kilometers of trunk roads will be newly built and rebuilt, and highways will exceed 5,500 kilometers. Three counties will be connected to highways (first-class) highways, and all county-level highways will be connected. New rural roads will be built and rebuilt 10,000 kilometers.

Zhao Yamin, Cai Borui, Yao Long, Korla, Xinjiang

Editor-in-chief: [Wang Kai]