China’s Xinjiang building world’s longest highway tunnel in play for regional connectivity
- Xinjiang region to complete extensive highway tunnel by 2025, part of a project cementing linkages within its borders as well as with Central Asia
- Region has defied Western sanctions and reported record trade, in part due to borders with eight countries
China is building, by present standards, the world’s longest highway tunnel – a project that will traverse one of the planet’s longest mountain ranges and open new pathways for exchanges between the country’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Central Asia, which experts said is an increasingly decisive area for foreign trade.
A crucial section of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, the Tianshan Shengli tunnel will serve as a pivotal transport link between the southern and northern halves of the region, state media said.
When opened to traffic by the end of October 2025, it will cut travel time through the Tianshan Mountains to about 20 minutes, and the journey from capital Urumqi to Korla, the region’s two most populous cities, will be shortened from more than seven hours to about three hours.
The tunnel, which is expected to span a total length of 22.1km (13.7 miles) when finished, is the longest currently under construction.
“Completion will certainly benefit trade and economic growth in the underdeveloped part of Xinjiang,” said Xu Tianchen, an economist with The Economist Intelligence Unit.
As China builds closer diplomatic and economic ties with Central Asia, the region will be an increasingly important fulcrum as both a final market and a transit point, Xu added, with more infrastructure development likely in the works to boost connectivity, including the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway.
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