"The weather was very good that day. From the helicopter, the road surface was shining in the sun, like a golden dragon lying on the land of Shanghai." The morning of October 31, 1988 is etched in Zhang Kuihong's memory. On that day, the first expressway in mainland my country, the Shanghai-Jiaxing Expressway, was opened to traffic. Since then, the decision to build an expressway, which had been debated for many years, has quickly proved its significance.

A flower blooms, stirring up the whole garden. Connecting dots, forming lines, weaving networks... In 33 years, the total mileage of my country's expressways has increased from 0 to 160,000 kilometers. Wherever the road is built, there will be leaves and fruits. Along the expressway, you can feel the pulse of the whole country's progress. On April 6, the reporter set off from the Shanghai-Jiaxing Expressway, following the convoy of the "See China Along the Expressway" theme promotion event, and the first stop was Shanghai.

The same-city effect in the Yangtze River Delta is becoming more and more obvious

The 15.9-kilometer-long Hujia Expressway connects downtown Shanghai and Jiading New Town. However, Shanghai's original vision for the expressway was more than that. "It would be best if it could connect to Jiangsu, or even Shandong," said Zhang Kuihong, then deputy chief engineer of the Hujia Expressway Construction Headquarters.

The wish of that year has long become a reality. Since the 1990s, the construction of Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou and other expressways has started one after another. "One year a different look, three years a big change", Shanghai has ushered in the spring of expressway construction. According to Shanghai's "153060" expressway network planning, a modern expressway network has been formed. On this network, vehicles from important industrial areas, important towns, transportation hubs, and major passenger and freight distribution centers can enter the expressway network in 15 minutes, and the central city and new towns, and the central city to the provincial border can be connected in 30 minutes. Any two points on the expressway network can be reached within 60 minutes.

As of 2020, the total mileage of Shanghai's expressways has reached 844.7 kilometers. The traffic volume of expressways has also increased from an average of more than 4,000 vehicles per day in the early days of the opening of the Shanghai-Jiaxing Expressway to an average of 1.5 million vehicles per day for the entire road network. A few days ago, Zhang Kuihong, who is in his 80s, was very excited when he learned from the news that the proportion of car-owning households in Shanghai has already exceeded 30%. He said: "Our country is developing really fast."

The extension of expressways has also made the "same city effect" of the entire Yangtze River Delta region more obvious. The "2020 Annual Report on the Development of Integrated Transportation in the Yangtze River Delta" shows that in 2019, highways accounted for 70.2% of the passenger transportation structure in the Yangtze River Delta; highways accounted for 59.3% of the freight transportation structure in the Yangtze River Delta. Among them, the well-connected expressway network has made an indelible contribution. In the future, the number of highway connection channels between Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces will increase to 67, jointly building an integrated transportation system for the Yangtze River Delta metropolitan area, and the scope of the "one-hour metropolitan area" will gradually expand.

Looking at the national highway map, the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway connects Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu and Shanghai, a number of economic development centers; the Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway runs through my country's three major economic blocks in the east, central and west; the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway forms a major channel connecting my country's southeast and northwest... Shanghai has undoubtedly become an important highway hub in my country and has also formed a center where the blood vessels of economic development converge.

Transportation stimulates the momentum of industrial development

During the Qingming Festival this year, Chongming Island was crowded with tourists. Tourist buses and self-driving cars were constantly passing through the Yangtze River Tunnel Bridge, the passageway to and from the island. The 25.5-kilometer Yangtze River Tunnel Bridge is the starting section of the Shanghai section of the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway. Since it was opened to traffic on October 31, 2009, it has changed the history of Chongming Island having no land access to the outside world for more than a thousand years, and opened up new space for the development of Chongming's eco-tourism.

On May 21, tourists going to Chongming will have a new "check-in spot" - the 10th China Flower Expo Park, and the average daily number of tourists in the scenic area is expected to reach 70,000. Cai Jingyan, the dispatcher of the on-site command center of the Flower Expo Traffic Security Group and deputy director of the Shanghai Road Transport Administration Bureau, introduced that Chongming will open a Flower Expo special road under the guidance of municipal departments. Tourists can go directly to the Flower Expo Park from downtown Shanghai along Wuzhou Avenue, Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge, Chenhai Highway, and Panlong Highway.

The excellent transportation location advantage gives Shanghai's industrial development unlimited momentum.

Surrounded by a number of highways including Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Changzhou, Shenyang-Haikou, Shanghai-Kunming, Shanghai-Xiangyang, and Shanghai-Jinhua, the Hongqiao Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center (Hongqiao Pinhui) has sprung up. This is a year-round exhibition and trading platform that undertakes and amplifies the spillover effects of the CIIE. With the Hongqiao transportation hub, it can reach major domestic cities within 2 hours, laying the foundation for the development goal of "based in Shanghai, linking the Yangtze River Delta, serving the whole country, and radiating the Asia-Pacific region". After two years of construction, Hongqiao Pinhui has brought together more than 2,000 brands from more than 70 countries (regions), covering more than 20,000 products.

While being based in Shanghai, Hongqiao Pinhui has also made useful attempts to link the Yangtze River Delta and radiate across the country. On December 30, 2020, the Hongqiao Business District Management Committee awarded plaques to 10 Hongqiao Pinhui Yangtze River Delta sub-centers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places; this year, sub-centers in Harbin, Heilongjiang, Qingdao and Linyi, Shandong, etc. have also entered the substantive preparation stage.

In addition to the distinctive CIIE products, the local sub-centers also praised the convenient transportation conditions in Hongqiao Business District. The staff of the Yangtze River Delta Sub-center often set out in the morning to Hongqiao Pinhui to select goods, and can finish their work and go home on the same day. Two to three days after the collection is completed, the same products as those in the CIIE can be put on the shelves locally. Hongqiao Pinhui is relying on the advantages of Hongqiao's large transportation to go further and further.