On November 17, 2020, 9 projects in Mengla County, Yunnan started construction at the same time. It is reported that the project covers transportation, cultural tourism, infrastructure and other fields, with a total investment of 34.19 billion yuan. One of the most noticeable is the start of construction of the Xishuangbanna section of the Menglu Expressway (Mengxing from Mengla County to Luchun County, Honghe Prefecture), another border expressway in Yunnan Province.

According to reports, the construction area of the Xishuangbanna section of the Menglu Expressway is 6635.38 mu, and the total length of the main line is 73.741km. The two-way four-lane expressway standard construction is adopted, the design speed is 80 km/h, the roadbed width is 25.5 meters, and the total approved investment is 11.813 billion yuan. The construction period is three years. A total of 4 interchanges, 1 service area and 1 parking area are set up across the line. The bridge-to-tunnel ratio of the main line is 51.13%. The key control projects are the Nanxinghe Extra Large Bridge, the Habaqing Right Extra Large Bridge, the Paozhuqing No. 1 Extra Long Tunnel, and the Yiwu Extra Long Tunnel.

The Menglu Expressway is an important section of the five-vertical, five-horizontal, two-ring, twenty-link expressway network planned by Yunnan Province. It is an important economic link connecting impoverished ethnic minority areas in the southern border of Yunnan. The trunk line is also one of the important land passages from the central and western regions of China and the inland cities of Yunnan to South Asia and Southeast Asia. After the completion and opening to traffic, it will greatly ease the existing traffic pressure and further optimize the regional road network. Editor/He Yuting