Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complex network of roads. China's first expressway was built in 1988. Until 1993, very few expressways existed. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the Jingshi Expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province. This expressway now forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway, currently one of the longest expressways nationwide at over 2,000 km.
The total costs of the national expressway network are estimated to be 2 trillion yuan (some 240 billion US dollars). From 2005 to 2010, the annual investment was planned to run from 140 billion yuan (17 billion US dollars) to 150 billion yuan (18 billion US dollars), while from 2010 to 2020, the annual investment planned is to be around 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars).
It costs:
The construction fund will come from vehicle purchase tax, fees and taxes collected by local governments, state bonds, domestic investment and foreign investment. Unlike other freeway systems, almost all of the roads on the NTHS/"7918 Network" are toll roads that are largely financed by private companies under contract from provincial governments. The private companies raise money through bond and stock offerings and recover money through tolls.
Efforts to impose a national gasoline tax to finance construction of the tollways met with opposition and it has been very difficult for both the Communist Party of China and the State Council to pass such a tax through the National People's Congress of China.
Expressway exit numbering
Exit numbering has been standard in China from virtually day one, while some other nations are just catching on (e.g. Switzerland only in 2002). Most Chinese expressways, especially those in the national network, use distance-based exit numbering, with the last three numbers before the decimal point taken used as the exit number. Hence, an exit present at km 982.7 would be Exit 982, whereas an exit at km 3,121.2 would be Exit 121.
Mostly regional expressways still use sequential exit numbering, although even here, new signage feature distance-based exit numbering. Before the 2009–2010 numbering switchover, nearly all of China's expressways used sequential numbering, and a few expressways used Chinese names outright.
The exit is written inside an oval in green letters to the immediate right of the Chinese word for exit, "出口" (chukou).
Numbering Rules
All expressways in this network begin with the letter G. (For regional expressways, the letter S is used instead.)
All expressways have a thin band on top of the sign. For national expressways, this will be red; for regional expressways, it will be orange-yellow.
For radial expressways leaving from or ending in Beijing, use a single digit from 1 to 9 (e.g. G1, G2).
For north-south expressways, use an odd number from 11-89 (e.g. G13, G35).
For west-east expressways, use an even number from 10-90 (e.g. G30, G46).
For regional expressways in the 7918 network, use numbers from 91-99 (e.g. G91, G93) Existing expressways
A new system, which dates from 2004 and began use on a nationwide level beginning late 2009 and early 2010, integrates itself into the present-day G-series number system. The present-day network, termed the 7918 Network (also known as the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS)), uses one, two or four digits in the G-series numbering system, leaving three-figured G roads as the China National Highways.
The new 7918 Network is composed of
7 radial expressways leaving Beijing (G1-G7)
9 vertical expressways going north to south (double digit G roads with numbers ending in an odd numeral)
18 horizontal expressways head west to east (double digit G roads with numbers ending in an even numeral)
The network is additionally composed of connection expressways as well as regional and metropolitan ring expressways.
On a nationwide basis, expressways use the G prefix (short for "guojia" or "nation" in Chinese), as well as the character "国家高速" (National Expressway, white letters on a red stripe on top of the sign). For regional expressways, the prefix S (short for "shengji" or "province-level") is used instead, as well as the one-character abbreviation of the province and "高速" (expressway, black letters on an orange-yellow stripe on top of the sign.) The same numbering system is used for both national and regional expressways.
Badaling Expressway (Madian - Kangzhuang)
Jingda Expressway (Madian - Datong (Shanxi)
Jingcheng Expressway (Taiyonggong/Wanghe Bridge - Gaoliying)
Airport Expressway (Sanyuanqiao - Beijing Capital International Airport)
Jingtong Expressway (Dawangqiao - Balizhuang/Ximazhuang)
Jingha Expressway (Tongzhou District Beiguan Roundabout - Yanjiao (Hebei))
Jingshen Expressway (Sifang Bridge - Shenyang (Liaoning)
Jingjintang Expressway (Fenzhongsi - TEDA (Tianjin)
(Jinghu Expressway (Beijing - Shanghai)
Jingkai Expressway (Yuquanying - Yufa)
Jingshi Expressway (Liuliqiao - Shijiazhuang)
(Jingzhu Expressway (Liuliqiao - Zhuhai (Guangdong))
