China's roads today. Unprecedented pace of road construction in China. China's experience for Russia
Highways of China
Construction of highway infrastructure before the start of the opening-up reform policy
In old China, highways and traffic on them were in an extremely backward condition; in 1949, the total length of highways suitable for transport in the entire country was only 80.7 thousand km, the density of roads was only 0.8 km／100 km 2. At the initial stage of the creation of the People's Republic of China, having survived the restoration stage, roads received significant development; in 1952, the length of roads was 126.7 thousand km. In the mid and late 50s, based on the needs of economic development and development of border areas, China began large-scale construction of roads to the border and mountainous regions of the country, the Sichuan - Tibet, Qinghai - Tibet highways were built, also in the southeastern, In the coastal, northeastern and southwestern regions of the country, roads were built for defense purposes; the length of roads increased sharply and in 1959 amounted to more than 500 thousand kilometers.
In the 1960s, along with continued large-scale road construction, technical re-equipment was intensified, resulting in a noticeable increase in the length of paved roads, as well as the percentage of roads with premium and high-class pavement. In the mid-70s, China began the technical re-equipment of the Qinghai-Tibet highway, which was fully completed in the 80s, thus building an asphalt road with the highest altitude in the world. Along with the development of road construction, the construction of highway bridges also developed, and a whole group of bridges with Chinese characteristics were built: stone arch bridges, double-bend arch bridges, reinforced concrete arch bridges, and a variety of prestressed concrete and beam bridges. In the thirty-year period from 1949 to 1978, despite the vicissitudes of economic development, the length of the country's roads generally continued to grow at a stable pace and at the end of 1978 amounted to 890 thousand km, which means an average annual increase of 30 thousand km; The road density has reached 9.3 km／100 km 2 .
Construction of highway infrastructure after the start of the opening-up reform policy
Since the start of China's opening-up reform policy, the country's economy has continued to develop at high speed, accompanied by an unprecedented increase in the need for road transportation; in the construction of highway infrastructure, a historical turning point occurred, which is reflected in the following: road construction began to be actively supported by both the central government and local government at all its levels, as it was said then, “if we want to get rich, we must first build roads”; gradually the importance of road construction became a generally accepted fact throughout society. Based on unified planning, planned construction of road infrastructure began throughout the country. In the early and late 1980s, the State Highway Network Plan and the National Expressway System were adopted and implemented, giving road construction a clear overall goal and objectives at each stage; Along with the continued expansion of road construction, raising the level of quality has become a priority. The rapid development of expressways and other high-quality highways has revolutionized the once backward industry of road construction; The financing channels for road construction were diversified, which gradually solved the problem of the lack of funds in road construction, especially with the State Council's decision in 1984 to increase road maintenance fees, begin collecting additional fees for car purchases, and authorize the introduction of a toll on high-end highways. to return the loan; Beginning in 1985, legislation followed to provide a stable source of funding for road construction. According to statistics, by 1999 the total length of the country's roads was 1 million 350 thousand km, the road density reached 14.1 km／100 km 2, which is 1.5 times more than in 1978. The percentage of second class roads among all roads in the country increased from 1.3% in 1979 to 12.5% in 1999. The improvement in the condition of roads connecting the main cities became especially clear, and the issue of traffic tension was resolved. At the same time, the length of county and rural roads grew rapidly, as well as their quality improved; in some provinces, 100% asphalt was laid on roads, with technologies corresponding to the second class level; In the country, roads were built between 100% of counties, 98% of villages and 89% of administrative villages. In general, we can say that a network of highways covering the entire country has emerged, consisting of rationally located main and auxiliary roads connected together.
The construction of expressways deserves special attention. Expressways represent a notable achievement of road construction in China since the opening-up reform policy began. In 1988, China's first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km long), was put into operation. After that, the Shenyang-Dalian Expressway with a total length of 375 km and the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway with a total length of 143 km were built one after another. Since the beginning of the 1990s, as part of the overall construction plan for national expressways, expressway construction in China has begun to pick up pace, and the length of expressways built annually has increased from several tens of kilometers to more than a thousand kilometers. By the end of 1999, the total length of China's operational expressways had already reached 11,605 km. In just 10 years, the construction of expressways in China has achieved results that took developed countries a total of 40 years. The construction of expressways and other high-quality highways has raised the technical standard of road construction in China, moving away from the backward state of the road construction industry, and at the same time significantly narrowing the gap between China and developed countries.
The rapid development of high-class roads has put forward quite high demands on the construction of road bridges and tunnels, and contributed to an increase in the number and improvement of the technical level of road bridges and tunnels. In China, a number of highly complex bridges with deep foundations and long spans have been built across major rivers and some straits, such as the Huangshi Bridge on the Yangtze River (the first major bridge across the Yangtze River, independently designed and built by the Chinese Ministry of Transport), Wanxian Bridge on the Yangtze River, Tongling Bridge on the Yangtze River, Jiangyin Bridge on the Yangtze River (the first steel suspension bridge in China and the fourth longest span in the world), Second Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, Fenglindu Bridge over the Yellow River, Second Jinan Bridge over the Yellow River , Humen Great Bridge in Guangdong, Niugushan Sea Bridge in Shandong, Haicang Bridge in Xiamen and others. These projects are evidence that China has already become one of the world's leading countries in the construction of bridges with deep foundations and long spans. By the end of 1999, the number of road bridges in the country already numbered 230 thousand, with a total length of 8006 km; the number of tunnels totaled 1257 pieces, with a total length of 407 km. The development of the construction of road tunnels in our country began practically from scratch. In 1986, China's first large-scale, advanced, modern road tunnel was built on the Fuzhou-Mawei First Class Highway: the Gushan Double-Lane Tunnel. Following this, a number of large modern road tunnels were built, such as Zhongliangshan, Jiyunshan, Liupanshan, Badaling, etc.
The area covered by rural roads has increased noticeably, after the founding of New China, the country has continuously strengthened the construction of the highway network, the construction of road infrastructure has developed rapidly, simultaneously with the construction of national highways and provincial highways, the pace of construction of expressways and rural highways has accelerated, transportation functions The road networks as a whole have been constantly improving, and overall efficiency has been constantly increasing. By the end of 2008, the total length of highways in China had already reached 3,730 thousand km, including the length of expressways was 60,300 km, first-class highways - 54,200 km, second-class highways - 285,200 km, second-class roads and above occupy 10.72% of the total length of all roads. The technical class of the road surface and the depth of coverage have increased significantly; at the end of 2008, the length of roads with a high and medium-high class of road surface reached 1,995.6 thousand km. Road density increased from 0.84 km／100 km2 in 1949 to 38.86 km／100 km2，which is an increase of 46.26 times compared to 1949. The launch of the Shanghai-Jiading Expressway in 1988 marked a breakthrough in expressway construction in mainland China. After this, the construction of expressways began to advance at an unstoppable pace, creating new record levels: in 1999, the length of expressways exceeded 10,000 km, in 2002 exceeded 20,000 km, in 2004 exceeded 30,000 km, in 2005 exceeded 40,000 km, in 2007 it exceeded 50,000 km, in 2008 it exceeded 60,000 km, consistently ranking second in the world; The speed of expressway development in China has attracted worldwide attention. By the end of 2008, the total length of rural roads in the country amounted to 3,125 thousand km, which is 4 times more than in 1978; The percentage of towns, villages and administrative villages with paved roads increased from 90.5% and 65.8% to 99.24% and 92.86%, respectively.
Road transport from China
– one of the most progressive countries in the world. Despite the fact that roads in China began to be actively built relatively recently - since 1984 (before that it was believed that there were more important things to do), today they are of high quality, widely branched and amaze with their pace of construction.
Why so fast
Since China began to develop, the government has come to the conclusion that it is impossible to establish production and sales unless the country has high-quality ways to quickly deliver raw materials and goods. It was decided that a considerable part of the budget should be spent on road construction. The most extensive work was carried out in the period from 2005 to 2010, about 17-18 billion dollars were spent on this per year. Currently, about $12 billion is invested annually in road construction.
Today, the speed of road construction in China is about 750 meters per hour. Many may think that the country uses some special technology, but no - this is the result of proper organization of labor. The roads are not built by a government organization, but by a contractor who performs all work at his own expense. He receives payment only upon completion of all the work provided for in the contract. This encourages him to work faster. But such a pace does not lead to a decrease in quality, because the contractor provides a warranty period of service, which on average is 25 years.
Classification of Chinese roads
Roads in China can be divided into several types, depending on the classifier. Depending on the width: express – 25 m; 1st class – 25.5 m; 2nd class – 12 m; 3rd class – 8.5 m; 4th class – 7 m. In management: national; provincial; county; urban; village; special purpose.
Fare payment
Most road routes in China are free to travel. Paid ones are divided into two types: public (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built by contractors with their own money or with funds from private firms). State roads become toll-free after 15 years of operation, and commercial roads after 25.
The fee depends on the type of road, time of year and day. The approximate fare per kilometer is 0.25 to 0.6 yuan. Unlike European countries or, which is located next door, in Chinese cities all roads are free, even if they are very large junctions. But the downside is that there is not always a free alternative to toll roads.
Bridges in China
The active development of transport infrastructure pushed the Chinese to build bridges, which are very complex and expensive to build. The 32.5 km long Yangtze River Bridge is built on a deep-water foundation, like many others in this country. It made it possible to connect the land with the Shanghai port, which is the largest in the world in terms of turnover, but due to the shallow waters of the river it could not be built closer to the shore. Despite its impressive length, the bridge is not the largest in China; there is an even longer one - 36.5 km (across Jiaozhou Bay). Today, the People's Republic is busy building the world's longest bridge: Macau-Hong Kong, 58 km long.
750 meters per hour - this is the speed at which new roads are being built in China today. How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and how can our neighbors’ experience help us?
FROM NOWHERE
Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks. The situation began to change in the 1980s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure we could not continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan to create a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed. We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.
The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.
The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand kilometers. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand kilometers! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million kilometers, including 104.5 thousand expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!
All of China is covered by a network of expressway toll roads, some of which have no free alternative. Drivers pay, but don’t complain: after all, you can quickly get to any point in the country!
SECRET TECHNOLOGIES
The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005–2010, investments in the creation of a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17–18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.
Federal or local authorities completely control construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work has been completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without compromising quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.
MONEY ON THE TABLE
Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years. Toll for cars – from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3–3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks – from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.
I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...
The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island to the mainland with a 32.5 km long bridge. Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.
Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, is quite successful in solving its transport problems. The main “secret of the company” is to build as many new roads and interchanges as possible.
BROTHERS - FOREVER?
How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?
A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new high-speed route Western Europe - Western China (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!
“Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects,” says Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. – We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.
The 32-kilometer Donghai Bridge connects Shanghai with the new deep-water port on Yanshan Island.
It seems that the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait could be the first, but very serious, joint project. Judge for yourself: in difficult conditions it is necessary to build a bridge crossing 19 km long, which will run along a dam across the island of Tuzla to Kerch. The Taman Peninsula, Tuzla and the Crimean coast will be connected by two spans of a two-tier combined road-railway bridge - 1.4 and 6.1 km long. And to approach the bridge, it will be necessary to build at least 40 km of roads in Taman, 8 km of highways in Kerch, 17 km of railways... The bridge will also serve as a support for water pipelines. Unfortunately, we have no experience in constructing facilities of this scale. European companies are no help here - they will not go to Crimea so as not to fall under sanctions. And the Chinese have a lot of experience: they are now building the longest bridge in the world: Macau - Hong Kong. Its length is 58 km.
By the way, on average, the construction of 1 km of four-lane highway in China costs $2.9 million. We have about $7 million, but this includes funds for the purchase of land, the transfer of communications and other expenses, which amount to 40–50% of the total amount. So the prices are comparable. But for some reason the results are different: in our country a little more than 600 km of roads are built a year, and in China – up to 10,000 km! True, in China they invested up to 4% of GDP in road construction, and in our country - only 1%... So it turns out that now the total length of paved roads in China is 4.5 times greater than in Russia. But 30 years ago the Chinese had nothing to brag about. Maybe in a few decades they will improve our roads too?
Throughout Russia, along with the snow, asphalt melted in the spring. The authorities will begin “exploiting the budget” for the hundredth time, laying asphalt some in the snow, some in the mud, and some will start laying asphalt in the rain. Naturally, such asphalt will fall apart in a few months, and the road will have to be repaired again. Everyone has probably heard how wonderful the roads are in Europe. So let's find out how they make roads using the example of the Czech Republic.
So, what components make up high-quality roads in the Czech Republic? Let's begin.
Point one
1) Contracts are prohibited. The road is built only by the company that won the tender. That is, you cannot win a tender and then reorder the laying of asphalt from another company.
Point two
2) Roads are divided into 4 classes (categories). Accordingly, each category is assigned a guarantee. If the road falls apart, the company repairs the road at its own expense.
1. Pedestrian paths in parks, squares, house paths. 5 years
2. Rural roads and other lightly trafficked roads. 7 years.
3. Regional roads connecting cities. 8 years.
4. Federal, highly loaded roads. 10 years.
Third point
3) Firms have a class from 1 to 4, according to the categories of roads.
Construction and repair of roads is an activity subject to licensing. To obtain a license, a company must have equipment on its balance sheet (i.e. its own equipment) plus a certain number of personnel, incl. trained, with diplomas. Everyone starts from 1st grade, i.e. all new companies have the right to make only paths in parks. You can upgrade your class only after successfully completing the warranty period. To increase its class, the company needs to purchase additional equipment and hire additional personnel. If during the warranty period the road falls apart, the company is obliged to repair the road at its own expense. If the road falls apart, the company may not be promoted, or even downgraded, or even have its license taken away and blacklisted. Companies value their license and class, because... If they cheat, they will no longer have orders. Road construction companies are usually 20-50 years old. In tenders, price and guarantee are of primary importance; a company can only increase the state guarantee period. Let's say instead of 5 years, assign 7 years.
Let's assume:
1st class - 1 skating rink 5 people
2nd class - 2 rollers, grader, scraper, asphalt paver, grylik, 15 people
3 class - 3 rollers, 2 vibrating rollers, grader, scraper, 2 asphalt pavers, 2 sprayers, 30 people
4th class - 5 rollers, 4 vibrating rollers, 2 graders, 2 scrapers, 4 asphalt pavers, 4 sprayers 60 people
Fourth and fifth points
4) Public control. The laying of the road is monitored by 3 third-party observers: one from the local government (like our house elder), the second from the local automobile union (something like our NGOs like blue buckets, only there are a lot of them and they are in every village), the 3rd from the road trade union (committee, something like that). Each representative is given a protocol; if at least ONE representative justifiably does not like the way the road is laid or repaired, the company is obliged to redo this section at its own expense.
5) Roads are built and repaired in the summer, companies monitor the weather forecast. For laying asphalt in the rain, your license will be taken away.
Sixth and seventh points
6) Pothole repair, if it occurs, is allowed exclusively as a temporary and necessary measure. Gnawing holes and filling them with asphalt must be done in ONE day. In this case, the walls and bottom of the hole in the old asphalt are heated with a special burner so that the new asphalt sticks better to the old one. After a few weeks, the patched section of the road is completely repaired, stripping the asphalt down to crushed stone and laying new ones. The joints of the old and new sections are heated with a special burner until they become plastic so that the border is not noticeable.
7) During repairs, the road is completely blocked. Motorists use duplicate routes, there are many of them.
China
In China, more than half of the roads are made of concrete. Either concrete is cheaper, or concrete is more durable, both options suit us in Russia.
And finally
It is strange and incomprehensible that in Russia, despite budget losses of billions of rubles due to bad roads, nothing has changed in 25 years of modern history.
Why annually allocate money to officials for the repair and construction of roads if they screw up EVERY year and do shit instead of roads? Why shouldn’t funding be cut off for regions that don’t know how to build roads? If you don’t know how to manage money, you’ll get 0 next year. Let those who CAN make roads get the money.
For example, in Omsk there are broken roads, despite annual injections. - this means Omsk should not receive money for road repairs at all, because officials are showing their incompetence in this matter. This money should be received by the region that can make roads and make roads in Omsk.
What is the point of our Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, GRU, FSO, prosecutor's office, Accounts Chamber and other supervisory and special departments and services if they cannot control such a simple and proven process as road construction??? Drive on these roads yourself!
P.S. Asphalt is made from oil, sand and crushed stone. We are an oil power! We have a ton of oil and crushed stone!!! Where are the roads???
At this rate, new roads are being built in China today. What's stopping us?
The bridge and road construction records set by the Chinese are impressive. The other day they built an interchange for a new railway station in 9 hours.
1.5 hours - and the bridge is ready
1,500 workers and 23 excavators connected 3 major railway lines overnight to the new Nanlong line in southern China. At the same time, they not only paved the road, but also installed traffic lights and other means of control along it. As Zhang Daosong, deputy head of the Tiesiju Civil Engineering group - the main builder of railways in China, explained, the project was completed in record time due to the fact that the workers were organized into 7 teams that simultaneously performed various tasks. But it is obvious that the secret of Chinese success is not only smart management.
It's also about technology. So, in 2016, the Chinese turned two bridges 100 m long by 90 degrees in 1.5 hours. Huge structures were assembled along the railway track and then installed perpendicularly on prepared supports. At the same time, the busy highway under the railway tracks was not blocked - everything happened right above the cars.
In 2015, the Chinese dismantled the old and assembled a new 6-lane road bridge in Beijing in 43 hours. During this time they also managed to apply markings. The new bridge surface required a 1,300-ton structure, which was transported ready-made. As a representative of the contractor explained, a new technology of “integrative replacement” was used. Reconstruction in the usual way would have taken at least 2 months, but the key transport crossing in the northeast of Beijing, connecting the 3rd ring road, the airport expressway and Route 101, could not be blocked for so long.
They build in a week what we build in a year.
750 m per hour - at this speed new roads are being built in the Middle Kingdom today. All expressways were built in the last 20 years! How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and why can’t we adopt this experience?
Population explosion or hoax? How many Chinese are there really? “In terms of construction, China has long overtaken not only us, but the whole world,” Pavel Goryachkin, president of the Union of Estimating Engineers, explained to AiF. - In terms of production volumes of building materials, it is simply unrivaled, even the Americans are far behind. A simple example: we produce 79-80 million tons of cement per year, and the Chinese produce more than 1 billion tons! This is a serious indicator, especially since they do not export cement. They build as many roads in a week as we do in a year. We used to laugh at Chinese counterfeits, but they, like a sponge, absorb all new technologies. Now we are not talking about manual labor, when a million Chinese were rounded up and they dug some kind of pit with shovels. No! We are talking about high-tech construction. Today, the Chinese produce on their territory almost the entire range of necessary construction machinery and equipment. Chinese engineers study at the best universities in the world, do internships at the best construction sites, and this is supported in every possible way by the state. They understand that construction is one of the engines of the economy, which is why they invest. The Chinese are very hardworking and talented people. The technological solutions show how they are progressing.
But even with the amount of money we pour into our construction projects, for some reason we can’t work like that. Of course, we can do something: the technology is modern, the market for building materials is developed, and there are engineers, but... In China, construction is a priority for the state, but over the past two years, we, builders, have only heard threats and insults from officials: they say we don’t need shared construction, all developers are thieves and crooks. Rosstat records a decrease in the volume of produced building materials by 10%. According to the Supreme Arbitration Court, builders are in the forefront in terms of the number of bankruptcies. What kind of industry development can there be here?!”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Let us add that in China, government and regional officials are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of cargo and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. A lot of money is allocated for this. But, although the cost of 1 km of highway in our countries is approximately comparable, in the Middle Kingdom they are built many times faster and with better quality - the specified service life of the highway there is 25 years.
The only good news is that our builders already have joint projects with the Chinese. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire want to invest in Russia, which means we need to learn and adopt their experience. And not only for engineers and builders, but also for managers.