On March 15, 2023, the preliminary design of the Huzhou Urban Interconnection Line Project of the Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway, namely the Huzhou Ring Expressway Closed Loop Project, was officially approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and construction is planned to commence in June 2023. It is understood that since the approval of the application report in early 2023, the project has continuously obtained the approval from the Provincial Department of Transportation and the Development and Reform Commission within 45 working days, setting a new record for the speed of preliminary design approval of highway projects in Zhejiang Province.

Huzhou Ring Expressway

At present, the Huzhou Belt Expressway Project has successively completed the west section of Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway, the north section of Shensu Zhejiang Anhui Expressway, and the south section of Shenjia Lake Expressway. The east section of Huzhou Hangzhou Expressway has been fully constructed in January 2021. The planned construction of the Huzhou urban connection line of the Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway is the last link of the Belt Expressway project.

It is reported that the total length of the Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway Huzhou Urban Connecting Line Project is about 14.033 kilometers, with a estimated investment of about 6.009.7 billion yuan and a planned construction period of 48 months. It adopts the standard of two-way six-lane expressway, with a starting point of about 9.2 kilometers to Huzhou North Hub, and a design speed of 100 km/h; The section from Huzhou North Junction to the terminal is about 4.8km, with a design speed of 120km/h.

The whole line of Huzhou Ring Expressway Project is located in South the Taihu Lake New Area, starting from Renhuangshan Street, connecting Shensu Zhejiang Anhui Expressway, ending at Kangshan Street, connecting Hangzhou Nanjing Expressway. The whole line is equipped with 3 hubs, 1 extra long tunnel, 4259 meters long, which is the longest wide tunnel in Zhejiang Province at present.

In the future, the construction of the Huzhou Ring Expressway project will have significant significance in promoting the efficient connection of the two national highway network trunk highways, namely, the G50 Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway and the G25 Changshen Expressway, implementing the strategy of building a strong province with high-level transportation, supporting the construction of Huzhou's lakeside tourism city, and promoting regional economic development. Editor/He Yuting