Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Transport, Post and Telecommunications (Part 2)
Section 2 Highways. Before the Qing Dynasty, transport in the region relied on footpaths and streams, with all overland goods carried on shoulder poles and backs — as a folk rhyme put it, "Peaks pierce the clouds, the road is narrow; for a thousand years the carrying pole has bent men's backs." During the Republic of China period, road construction began. One was the Hunan–Sichuan Highway (Changsha to Chongqing), whose local section ran from Meizishan in Luxi through Luxi and Jishou to Chayuan in Huayuan.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 2 Highways
Before the Qing Dynasty, transportation in the region relied on footpaths and streams and rivers, and land transport was all by shoulder pole and back, hence the folk rhyme: "The mountains are high and the roads narrow, piercing the clouds; for a thousand years the carrying pole has bent the waist."
During the Republic of China period, highway construction began within the region. One was the Xiangchuan Highway (Changsha to Chongqing), whose section within the region started at Meizishan in Luxi, passed through Luxi, Jishou, and reached Chadong in Huayuan before entering Sichuan, with a total length of 179.59 kilometers. This section was surveyed and built simultaneously under the responsibility of the Xiangchuan Highway Engineering Office of the Hunan Provincial Government in the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936). At that time, nearly 390,000 workdays of civilian labor were requisitioned for construction in Luxi, Qiancheng (now Jishou), Yongshui (now Huayuan), Baojing, Guzhang, Yongshun, and Fenghuang counties. The Aizhai section had a height difference of 440 meters and crossed by 15 "zigzag" lines and 1 overpass, with a total length of 6 kilometers, and its steepness was rare among domestic highways at that time. At peak times, construction personnel along the entire line numbered more than 30,000. More than 200 people died at the construction site. In July of the following year, the entire line was officially opened to traffic and operation. The other was the Jitong Highway (Jishou to Tongren), whose Jishou to Qianzhou section began construction in March of the 26th year of the Republic of China and was completed in June, with a length of 8 kilometers. In total, 2 highways with a length of 187.59 kilometers were built during the Republic of China period.
After the founding of New China, the Xiangxi Administrative Office, in accordance with Hunan Province's instruction to "focus on developing highways in remote mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas with inconvenient transportation," actively carried out highway construction. From March 1951 to March 1952, the Baojing to Yongshun Highway was completed, the first newly built highway in Hunan Province after the founding of New China. In 1954, the Committee of the Communist Party of China for the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region formulated the construction policy of "key construction, phased renovation, organizing the masses, public assistance for private construction, and realizing highway access in every county as soon as possible," and carried out highway construction. By the beginning of 1959, the prefecture had 16 trunk and branch lines, with 1,043.85 kilometers open to traffic, an increase of 857 kilometers over 1949, realizing highway access in every county. Thereafter, highways gradually radiated and extended from county seats to district towns and people's communes, and by 1962, 186 kilometers of new highways had been built. During the period of national economic adjustment, adhering to the principle of "renovation first, operation later," 310 kilometers of highways were reconstructed and 352 kilometers of new highways were built.
In the early period of the "Cultural Revolution" in the 1960s, highway construction was disrupted, but people of all ethnic groups still persisted in building roads. In 1970, Huayuan County realized "highway access in every commune." In 1977, the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee put forward the policy of "popularization first, improvement later," setting off a new upsurge in road building. By the end of 1980, the prefecture had 5,343.3 kilometers of highways (4,111 kilometers meeting standards), 28.57 times that of 1949. In the 1980s, implementing the policy of "combining construction and maintenance, with maintenance as the main focus," on the one hand the technical grades of district and commune (township) highways were raised, and on the other hand commune (township)-access highways and dead-end roads in remote mountainous areas were continued. During the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" period, 89 kilometers of highways were built. From 1985, the state implemented work-relief poverty alleviation, arranging transportation construction project materials for Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture valued at 53.128 million yuan, and by 1988, 55 new highways (sections) totaling 624.39 kilometers had been built, and 37 highways totaling 429.85 kilometers had been upgraded.
During the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, highway construction within the prefecture continued to receive work-relief poverty alleviation support. After 1993, the guiding principle for transportation infrastructure construction within the prefecture was: focus on improving the main transportation framework and main arteries, broadening main highway corridors, raising the technical grade of county and township highways, and laying a solid foundation for eliminating poverty. During this period, 13 new highways totaling 202.22 kilometers were added, and 92.02 kilometers of highways were upgraded. By the end of 1995, among the 3,598.67 kilometers of highways managed and maintained by the prefecture as verified by the province, there were 2 national highways totaling 429.7 kilometers, 4 provincial highways totaling 307.8 kilometers, 36 county roads totaling 1,289.8 kilometers, and 98 township roads totaling 1,571.37 kilometers. Among them, 2,153 kilometers were highways of Grade IV or above.
During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, the prefecture completed a cumulative investment of 922 million yuan, built 173.81 kilometers of graded highways, built 2,093.3 meters of new bridges in 45 spans, built 19.15 kilometers of new cement roads, converted 134.6 kilometers of highway from gravel to asphalt, completed 324 kilometers of major and medium highway repairs, built 3,361 kilometers of village-access highways, and newly connected 846 administrative villages, with the rate of administrative villages with highway access rising from 53.7% at the end of 1994 to 85.3%.
In July 2000, on the basis of careful investigation and study, the Prefecture Transport Bureau formulated the "Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Transport Development Plan (2001-2015)" and submitted it to the provincial government as a prefecture government document. The Plan proposed: during the 15 years from 2001 to 2015, the strategic approach for transport development in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture is: highlight the upgrading and reconstruction of trunk highways, build convenient and fast major highway corridors into and out of the prefecture, and achieve a networked high-grade highway system within the prefecture; accelerate rural highway construction, improve port and station facilities, and raise comprehensive transport capacity. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the whole prefecture firmly seized the strategic opportunity of the state's implementation of the Western Development Campaign, and with extraordinary boldness and vision, invested a total project fund of 3.58675 billion yuan, and according to the established plan, launched another major campaign and tough battle of highway construction with a high starting point, high speed, and high quality. By the end of 2005, the prefecture's highway mileage reached 9,882.373 kilometers, including 427.587 kilometers of national highways, 495.01 kilometers of provincial highways, 1,663.606 kilometers of county roads, 3,977.75 kilometers of township roads, and 3,318.42 kilometers of village roads. There were 2,344.66 kilometers of graded highways, including 171.65 kilometers of Grade II highways, 395.69 kilometers of Grade III highways, and 1,777.32 kilometers of Grade IV highways. The rest were substandard highways.
I. National Highways
Two national highways are included in the network in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture:
One is the Xiamen-Chengdu Line (code 319), which within the prefecture is the section of the former Xiangchuan Highway. After the founding of New China, this route was reconstructed many times. From July 1958 to May 1959, curves were cut and slopes reduced, mountains were cut through and the road widened. Among these, the switchback at 112K+850 was changed into a horizontal "∞" shape with a level crossing. The sections of Luxi-Jishou-Huayuan-Chadong were respectively reconstructed to Grade III highway standards and paved with asphalt in 1973-1974, 1978-1982, and 1983-1987. In 1981, the section from Luxi Station to Meizishan was reconstructed to Grade IV highway standards and paved with asphalt. During the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, because of the construction of the Wuqiangxi Hydropower Station dam, the water level rose, and the 16.68-kilometer section from Baisha (the new town of Luxi County) to Xixi was reconstructed, completed by the end of 1995. National Highway 319 has a total length of 107.8 kilometers within the prefecture (excluding the section from Jishou urban area to the Huayuan three-way intersection). Among this, 96.2 kilometers are Grade III highway, all with asphalt pavement.
The other is the Hohhot-Beihai Line (code 209), which enters Hunan from Hubei, starting from Tuanjie Bridge in Longshan County, passing through Yongshun, Baojing, Huayuan, and Jishou to Shiyangshao in Fenghuang, then entering Huaihua City, totaling 334.27 kilometers (including the 70.38 kilometers from Jishou urban area to the Huayuan County three-way intersection). Among this, Yongshun-Baojing is 57.29 kilometers, Jishou-Fenghuang is 45 kilometers, Longshan-Yongshun is 118.89 kilometers, and the Fenghuang section within the Fenghuang-Mayang section is 9.7 kilometers. This line was completed respectively from March 1951 to March 1952, September 1955 to September 1956, March 1956 to February 1958, and September 1965 to March 1966. Mountainous sections account for 99.22% of the entire line. Since 1974, it has been reconstructed and widened many times. In 1995, the entire line was 321.9 kilometers, including 207.9 kilometers of Grade III roads, 112 kilometers of Grade IV roads, and 2 kilometers of substandard roads, all with sub-high-grade pavement.
Building an expressway was a dream long cherished by the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. On September 18, 2003, the Hunan Provincial People's Government held a mobilization meeting in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture for land acquisition and demolition for the Changde-Jishou Expressway, opening the prelude to expressway construction in Xiangxi. The main line of this road is 223.7 kilometers long, including 71.251 kilometers within Changde, 102.505 kilometers within Huaihua, and 49.984 kilometers within Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture; the connecting line is 13.7 kilometers, including 17 kilometers in Jishou; the total investment is 11.18 billion yuan. The Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture section was built with domestic funds, with state investment of 4.69 billion yuan, accounting for 42% of the total investment, and was planned for completion in 2007. The Changji Expressway is a component of the Changsha-Chongqing Expressway, a major western highway corridor in the state's key planned construction, an important transport corridor connecting eastern and central Hunan with the western region, and one of the key projects in highway construction during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period for the state and Hunan Province. Since construction started on March 25, 2004, all 14 construction contract sections within the prefecture have entered the site, and by the end of 2005, a cumulative project investment of 1.92 billion yuan had been completed. Except for Contract Section 30, the tunnel, bridge, and roadbed projects have basically been connected. In addition, the National Highway 209 Jishou bypass project officially started in December 2005; the engineering feasibility study report for the Ji(show)-Cha(dong) Expressway project has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission; the preliminary evaluation of the pre-feasibility study report for the Ji(show)-Huai(hua) Expressway has been completed; and the pre-feasibility study for the Zhang(jiajie)-Hua(yuan) Expressway project is being carried out urgently.
II. Provincial Highways
In 1988, there were 5 provincial highways within the prefecture, namely the Chang(de)-Yong(shun) Line (code 1801), Ji(shou)-Da(yong) Line (code 1828), Yong(shun)-Sang(zhi) Line (code 1841), Feng(huang)-Tong(ren) Line (code 1867), and Da(yong)-Sang(zhi) Line (code 1835). After 1989, the Dasang Line belonged to the jurisdiction of Zhangjiajie City, and the number of provincial highways within the prefecture was reduced to 4.
Changyong Line: Construction began in March 1952, and at the peak, the entire line employed as many as 22,700 laborers. The sections at Kamen, Dongkanhe, Qingtianya, and others were treacherous, and road builders clung to cliffs, tied ropes around their waists, and worked in midair. A 31.2-meter tunnel was excavated in the Qingtianya section. In October 1953, the entire line opened to traffic, with a length of 126.59 kilometers within the prefecture. From 1959-1960, 1964-1968, 1977-1979, and 1982-1984, road surface widening, bridge reconstruction, route reconstruction, and asphalt paving were carried out successively. In 1995, the section within Yongshun was 68.8 kilometers, all Grade IV highway.
Jigu Line: The 56-kilometer section from Jishou Donghe Bridge to Guzhang was constructed according to simple highway standards in 1956 and completed in 1959. The 21.6-kilometer section from Guzhang county town to Luoyixi Jiantangkou was built and reconstructed successively in 1963-1965, 1968-1970, and 1972-1974, and repaired in 1984-1985.
Yongsang Line: Constructed in 1956 according to simple highway standards through civilian labor and voluntary service, and completed in August 1958, with a total length of 63 kilometers. It was then reconstructed in 1960, 1982, and 1987, and paved with asphalt. In 1995, the line within Yongshun County was 49 kilometers, including 10 kilometers of Grade IV highway and 39 kilometers of Grade III highway.
Fengtong Line: Built from June 1956 to March 1957. It was later reconstructed in 1978-1979, 1983, and 1985-1986, and paved with asphalt. In 1995, the section within Fenghuang County was 32 kilometers, including 10.1 kilometers of Grade III highway and 21.9 kilometers of Grade IV highway.
On December 1, 1998, construction began on the Jishou-Guzhang Luoyixi Grade II highway project. The road is 61.7 kilometers long, and the entire line was constructed according to mountainous and hilly Grade II highway standards, with a roadbed width of 12 meters. By the end of 2000, the roadbed project was basically completed, and the entire line was opened to traffic. This highway crosses lofty mountains and ridges, with extremely complex geology and continuous landslides, making the project difficulty rare in the world. On December 26, 2002, a opening ceremony was held for the Jishou-Luoyixi Bridge Grade II highway. This road is one of the ten landmark projects of Hunan Province's implementation of the Western Development Campaign, with a total investment of more than 500 million yuan.
On March 28, 2001, construction officially began on the section within Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture of the Zhangjiajie-Luoyixi Grade II highway. The total length is 91.508 kilometers, with a total investment of 457 million yuan, of which the section within Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture is 67.3 kilometers long, with a total investment of 358 million yuan. In December 2003, the entire line was completed and opened to traffic, taking 33 months and finishing 2 months ahead of schedule, and was rated by the province as an excellent project. This highway is another high-grade highway in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture after the Jiluo Highway. The broad ranks of highway builders designed meticulously and constructed meticulously, creating a number of fine projects, including the Wangcun Grand Bridge, currently the largest single-span half-through concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge in Hunan Province; the Youshui section of the Zhangluo Highway, currently the section with the highest highway bridge density in Hunan Province; the Hexi Bianshan, which ranks among the forefront in smooth blasting for highway projects in Hunan Province; the Xibixi Bridge, currently the highest T-beam highway bridge in Hunan Province; and the uniquely shaped arch-framed slope protection and the exquisitely crafted Qingtianping Tunnel, among others. This road connects with the Jiluo Highway, and the entire line unfolds slowly like a picture in which mountains, water, roads, and bridges enhance one another, making it a golden tourism highway of Hunan Province. It leads north to Zhangjiajie Airport and south to Tongren Daxing Airport, and is of great significance for Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture in expanding opening to the outside world, stimulating economic growth, and promoting tourism development.
On November 28, 2003, construction officially began on the Feng(huang)-Da(tongren Daxing) Grade II highway. The total length is 30.793 kilometers, of which the main line is 29.4 kilometers. The total project investment is 239.41 million yuan. The entire construction period is 3 years. By the end of 2005, a cumulative investment of 135.88 million yuan had been completed, accounting for 56.76% of the planned total investment. Construction progress was good, and roadbed and other projects were completed. This highway is an important trunk highway connecting Hunan Province and Guizhou Province, a necessary passage from Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and Huaihua City and other areas to Tongren Daxing Airport, and also an important link connecting Zhangjiajie Airport and Tongren Airport.
III. County and Township Roads
In the late 1950s, under the call to "have the whole Party and the whole people build transport," the prefecture began building highways from each county town to key district towns, communes, and mining areas. By 1965, 42.5% of communes and towns had highway access. From 1966 to 1976, highways to communes were widely extended and radiated outward, and 79.9% of communes and towns in the prefecture had highway access. In the winters of 1977-1979, 80,000 to 90,000 laborers were mobilized each year throughout the prefecture for crash road-building. In 1980, the rate of highway access for communes in the prefecture reached 95%. In the 1980s, the main focus was on reconstructing and improving highway technical grades, while continuing to build broken-end roads between prefecture and county boundaries connecting remote mountainous areas. From 1986 to 1988, work-relief projects built 10 highways within the prefecture leading to Cili, Shimen, Yuanling, Mayang, and the border areas of Sichuan and Hubei, all of them "hard-bone" projects.
In the late "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, new highway construction shifted to village-access roads. In order to realize the goals proposed by the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee of achieving highway access for all townships in 1987 and highway access for 70% of administrative villages, and 85% of administrative villages by 2000, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Transport Bureau established a transport poverty-alleviation tough-battle leading group, using civilian labor and voluntary service and publicly assisted and privately run methods to build village-access highways. By 1995, of the prefecture's 2,657 administrative villages, 62.62% had highway access, and county and township roads accounted for 83.7% of total highway mileage.
During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, inter-county highway construction advanced steadily. On November 27, 2001, the Sanglong Highway officially started. The road starts at Longshan New Town and ends at Shanghexi, Sangzhi, Zhangjiajie City, with a total length of 49 kilometers. The highway is mountainous and hilly Grade III, with a roadbed width of 6.5 meters and a total investment of 108.16 million yuan. It was fully completed in October 2004. The actual cumulative completed investment of the project was 128.43 million yuan.
In response to the reality that maintenance input for national and provincial trunk highways within the prefecture had long been insufficient, traffic volume and overweight vehicles had both increased, and road surface network cracking, potholes, subsidence, and other defects were serious, and under the circumstance that the Hunan Provincial Transport Department had arranged a construction plan for only 132 kilometers of inter-county highways and the funds had not been put in place, according to the arrangements and deployments of the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and the Prefecture People's Government, since 2003 bank loans were used to vigorously promote the reconstruction of national and provincial trunk highways. The prefecture, county, and city transport bureaus and highway bureaus seized the time, fought high temperatures, battled the intense heat, exceeded conventional limits, worked beyond capacity, and fought day and night, achieving remarkable results. In the short period of more than five months in the second half of 2003, 530 kilometers of inter-county highways were started, 305 kilometers were completed, and 200 million yuan of investment was completed, creating a miracle in Xiangxi highway construction and achieving a historic breakthrough, equivalent to the engineering volume of 10 years of major and medium asphalt road repairs and 20 years of investment in the past. In 2004, the western inter-county highway construction project, still focusing on national and provincial highway reconstruction, started 261 kilometers for the whole year. Actually completed were 182 kilometers of pavement reconstruction and 46 kilometers of roadbed reconstruction, with completed investment of 155 million yuan. In 2005, there were 5 continued and finishing inter-county highway projects, completing 11 kilometers of inter-county highway reconstruction; 38 kilometers of pavement reconstruction, including 20 kilometers of cement pavement; 9.33 million cubic meters of drainage and protection works; and completed project investment of 46.19 million yuan.
Township-access highway construction achieved outstanding results. In mid-September 2001, the Yongshun Zhan(bi)-Xiao(xi) Highway started construction along the entire line, and the whole line opened to traffic in June 2002. The road is 56.728 kilometers long, with a total investment of 27.2 million yuan. It is a mountainous and hilly Grade IV highway, one of the 30 landmark projects in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's implementation of the Western Development Campaign, and also a key poverty-alleviation construction project of the Hunan Provincial Transport Department. Its completion enabled Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture to achieve the grand goal of highway access for every township. At the same time, preliminary work began on township-access highway reconstruction projects. Survey and design were completed for 500 kilometers of county and township asphalt roads, construction plans and funds were coordinated with the provincial department, and various management measures for county and township asphalt road construction were drafted. In 2005, the prefecture-wide rural transport mobilization meeting was held. In December of that year, the Yongshun Diaojing-Sangzhi Highway officially started.
Throughout the entire period from the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" to the "Tenth Five-Year Plan," Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture consistently vigorously promoted the "access project," namely village-access highway construction. Members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee listened to special reports on transport poverty-alleviation tough battles many times and studied the issue of village-access highway construction. Document No. [1996]6 of the Prefecture Committee and Prefecture Government, "Decision on Accelerating Highway Construction Throughout the Prefecture," clearly stipulated: the prefecture, county, and city finances shall allocate 2.5 million yuan each year, including 300,000 yuan from the prefecture finance, 300,000 yuan each from Longshan, Yongshun, Huayuan, Jishou, Luxi, and Fenghuang counties and cities, and 200,000 yuan each from Baojing and Guzhang counties; work-relief funds shall allocate 3 million yuan each year starting from 1996 for 3 consecutive years for investment in village-access highway construction. Each county and city issued preferential policies for village-access highway construction, and all departments opened green lights for village-access highway construction, reducing or exempting all taxes and fees. Party secretaries and township heads of each township led the masses, fighting the coldest days in winter and the hottest days in summer, vigorously building village-access roads and roads to prosperity. The broad masses were even more enthusiastic: they adjusted their fields and land themselves, moved their houses themselves, relocated graves themselves, and built the roads themselves, without asking for any compensation or any remuneration. From 1995 to November 2005, the prefecture raised a total of 158 million yuan, the masses contributed more than 33 million voluntary workdays, and more than 4,600 kilometers of village-access highways were newly built and reconstructed, adding 1,271 administrative villages with highway access, and the rate of administrative villages with highway access rose from 62.62% at the end of 1995 to 95% at the end of 2005.
IV. Bridges
Highway bridges in the prefecture include stone arch bridges, two-way curved arch bridges, beam bridges, and steel-chain suspension bridges, with stone arch bridges predominating. With the improvement, development, and innovation of design and construction technology, highway bridges developed from small spans to large spans and from heavy bridges to light bridges, forming many forms such as multi-rib multi-wave, ribless, and stone-rib. Open-spandrel and fully open-spandrel stone-rib arches replaced stone slab arch bridges, lowering costs and being widely adopted.
In March 1937, construction began on the Nengtan Suspension Bridge in Luxi County on the Xiangchuan Highway, and it was completed and opened to traffic in May 1938. The bridge is a steel chain suspension bridge, with two suspension cables weighing more than 30 tons, each 82.08 meters long, a span of 80 meters, a height of 20 meters, a bridge deck width of 4.5 meters, and a load standard of 10 tons. It was the earliest highway steel-chain suspension bridge built in China. In January 1970, 75 meters downstream of the Nengtan Suspension Bridge, the Nengtan Bridge, the first large-span open-spandrel stone arch bridge in Hunan Province, was completed, and the Nengtan Suspension Bridge honorably "retired."
Designed by Lin Duoqing of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Transportation Technology Team and completed in December 1965, the Wanrongjiang Bridge in Jishou County (main span clear span 38 meters, total length 95 meters) was the first open-spandrel stone arch bridge in the region. The Wuchao River Bridge in Fenghuang County, a 1-span 120-meter fully open-spandrel stone-ribbed arch bridge completed in 1990, is hailed as "the No. 1 Great Stone Bridge under Heaven" and won the first prize for scientific and technological progress from the Hunan Provincial Department of Transportation in July 1992. The two-way curved arch bridge began with the Jishou Bridge completed in 1966. In 1974, the Youshui Luoyixi suspension-chain type unequal-span two-way curved arch bridge, built using hoisting methods, with a maximum span of 116 meters and a bridge body height of 80 meters, was the largest of its kind in China at the time, and remained the second-largest two-way curved arch bridge in the country through the 1990s. By 1995, the prefecture had a total of 658 highway bridges, with a total length of 18,771 meters. Among the 151 bridges on national and provincial highways, there were 7 two-way curved arch bridges, 143 stone arch bridges, and 1 reinforced concrete structure bridge. Among county and township roads, stone arch bridges predominated.
On June 28, 1997, the Liye Bridge was completed and opened to traffic. This bridge is the second-largest bridge in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, with a total length of 395.3 meters, 6 spans, each with a span of 53 meters, and a width of 10 meters, of which the clear bridge deck width is 7 meters, with a total investment of 13.02 million yuan.
The Jiluo Highway, completed and opened to traffic by the end of 2002, has 1,937 linear meters of large, medium, and small bridges in 30 bridges. The Wangcun Grand Bridge, which spans the Youshui River, began construction in March 2001, had its steel pipe arch hoisted and closed on December 21, 2002, and was completed on July 1, 2003. The bridge is 302.5 meters long (including approach bridges), 12 meters wide, with a single-span clear span of 203 meters. It is the largest half-through concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge in Hunan Province by span.
V. Ferries and Tunnels
The prefecture's terrain is steep and rugged, and highways frequently cross rivers and mountains, so many ferries and tunnels were originally established. By 1995, the remaining ferries included 6 locations: Liye in Longshan County, Tanxi in Luxi County, and Qingshui, Tuzha, Longtou, and Tiechang in Baojing County. The Liye Ferry was built in December 1966, with 4 ferry workers at the time, 1 double-vehicle ferry, and manual ferrying. By 1995, it had 2 six-vehicle motorized ferries with 60-ton capacity, 2 tugboats with 117.6 kilowatts, and 14 employees, transporting 12,695 vehicles annually.
The construction of highway tunnels in the prefecture began with the Qingtianya Tunnel on the Changde-Yongshun Highway. Construction started in March 1953 and was completed in May, with a total length of 31.2 meters, road width of 6 meters, clear height of 5.5 meters, and a longitudinal slope inside the tunnel of 2%. In Baojing County there is the Pianyan Tunnel (on National Highway 209), in Yongshun County there is also the Denglengpo Tunnel (on National Highway 209), and in Longshan County there is the Xiaomazong Tunnel. The Denglengpo Tunnel was designed by You Qinggao of the Prefecture Transportation Bureau in 1976, constructed by the Yongshun County Maintenance Section starting in September 1979, and completed and opened to traffic in July 1981. The tunnel has a total length of 246.8 meters, used a total of 130,000 labor days, and cost 746,000 yuan. A pair of couplets is inscribed on the south and north ends of the tunnel:
Heaven serves as the chessboard and stars as the pieces—who dares to play; Earth serves as the pipa and roads as the strings—only I can pluck.
The highway, like a jade belt, ushers in the vision of the Four Modernizations; road workers, like painters, depict a garden full of spring colors.
After the tunnel was completed, it shortened the highway mileage by 2.74 kilometers, lowered the highway elevation by 87 meters, and reduced 21 sharp curves, fully demonstrating the heroic spirit of the road maintenance workers.
The Jiluo Highway is the highway with the densest concentration of tunnels in the prefecture, with 5 tunnels totaling 3,026 meters, plus 2 open-cut tunnels of 190 meters. Among them, the Qifeng Tunnel in Guzhang is the longest highway tunnel in the prefecture, with a length of 980 meters, a clear height of 6.8 meters, and a road surface width of 7 meters.
VI. Highway Maintenance
By the end of 2000, a total of 854 kilometers of standard drainage ditches had been excavated and built, 831 kilometers of standard road shoulders had been repaired, and 278 kilometers of image roads had been created. Of the 1,766 kilometers of highways managed and maintained by the Prefecture Highway Bureau, 1,181.9 kilometers were good-grade roads, with a comprehensive good road rate of 67.4% for trunk and branch lines. Among them, the good road rates for national and provincial highways and county and township roads were 81%, 77.2%, and 58.7% respectively, all exceeding the targets set by the province. Of the 1,899.81 kilometers of highways managed and maintained by local highway authorities, 1,151.8 kilometers were good-grade roads, and all good road rates exceeded planned targets.
In 2005, of the 1,462.18 kilometers of assessed mileage maintained by highway departments, 1,065 kilometers were good-grade roads and 396 kilometers were fair-grade roads, with no poor-grade roads. The comprehensive good road rate was 72.88%, of which the comprehensive good road rate for national and provincial trunk lines was 88.10%, and the comprehensive good road rate for county and township roads was 63.35%.
VII. Highway Transportation
During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, highway transportation management departments, in accordance with the principles of "unified, open, competitive, and orderly," focused on passenger transport, actively developed and cultivated the highway transportation market, presenting a lively and orderly situation. By the end of 2000, the prefecture had 11,249 various passenger and freight motor vehicles. Among them were 2,202 operating passenger vehicles, 3,040 freight vehicles, 2,617 transport tractors, and 3,390 other motor vehicles. With the development and changes in the transportation business structure, the vehicle structure gradually formed a situation of large, medium, and small vehicles and high, medium, and low grades, meeting the needs of different levels. The prefecture operated a total of 206 passenger bus routes, with 2,080 daily bus departures. In 2000, the prefecture completed a freight volume of 7.6242 million tons and freight turnover of 454.95 million ton-kilometers; completed a passenger volume of 37.17 million person-trips and passenger turnover of 963.13 million person-kilometers. In 2003, the prefecture had 9,624 highway transportation operators, with 3,299 operating passenger vehicles, 4,188 freight vehicles, 1,416 other motor vehicles, 2,674 tractors, and 308 road passenger transport routes; 132 new freight vehicles/465 tons were added, and 686 passenger transport capacity units/9,604 seats were renewed, of which more than half were medium and high-grade buses. In 2005, the whole society completed a passenger volume of 40.76 million person-trips and passenger turnover of 1.53297 billion person-kilometers, up 3.8% and 3.3% respectively over the previous year; completed a freight volume of 8.6 million tons and freight turnover of 632.83 million ton-kilometers, up 3.5% and 4.5% respectively over the previous year. During the year, 4 new inter-provincial passenger routes, 3 inter-prefectural passenger routes, and 6 inter-county passenger routes were added. Passenger and freight capacity also increased significantly, with 1,245 new capacity units added, including 120 passenger vehicles and 1,125 freight vehicles. During the 2005 Spring Festival travel rush, the prefecture deployed 2,475 passenger vehicles, with a cumulative 134,900 departures, 831 extra trips, 394 chartered trips, and transported 2.2863 million passengers, including 42,400 to Guangdong and 84,200 to other provinces and cities. During the "May Day" and "National Day" golden weeks, a total of 2,612 vehicles were deployed, with a cumulative 21,263 departures, including 701 extra and chartered trips, transporting 404,000 passengers and completing operating revenue of 4.794 million yuan.
"Heaven's timing and human affairs urge each other on; at the winter solstice, yang is born and spring returns again." The Western Development Campaign has provided a great opportunity for Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture to accelerate transportation construction. People firmly believe that the road to civilization, the road to ecology, the road to prosperity, and the road to moderate prosperity for all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture lie ahead, in the hands of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, and beneath their feet...