World's longest expressway tunnel to link northern and southern Xinjiang

The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, described as the world’s longest expressway tunnel, will be open to traffic by the end of this year, creating a new shortcut between the northern and southern parts of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. At a press conference held by the Information Office of the Xinjiang regional government on Thursday, Guo Sheng, deputy director of the transport department, said the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway traverses the Tianshan Mountains via the tunnel and is expected to alleviate a traffic bottleneck that has long hindered the coordinated development of Xinjiang’s northern and southern areas.

The tunnel has a length of 22.13 kilometers and will reduce the time needed to drive across the middle section of the Tianshan Mountains from several hours to about 20 minutes. Once operational, the travel time from Urumqi, north of the Tianshan Mountains, to Korla, south of the range, will be shortened from seven hours to about three hours. A drone photo taken on Dec 25, 2024 shows the tunnel’s exit in Hejing county of the Mongolian autonomous prefecture of Bayingolin in Xinjiang.