It’s informed recently from the Construction Coordination Command Center of Yi-Ba Highway in Badong County that the road connecting between Yiling District of Yichang City and Badong County of Enshi City will test run on November 28 this year. And by then we will be able to cover the distance from Yichang City to Badong County in only two hours, which also marks the completion of the project of the Hu-Rong Highway. It’s reported that the 1966 km Hu-Rong Highway is intended to be one of the major transportation corridors across China that extends from the east of Shanghai to the west of Chengdu.

　　The Yi-Ba Highway runs from the Yaqueling Township of Yiling District in Yichang by joining the Yichang-Jingmen Highway, to Badong County in Enshi via Yiling District, Zigui County and Xingshan County. Then the Yi-Ba Highway will reach the highway in Chongqing connecting between Wushan and Fengjie. Because of this, this piece of section becomes the only fast track on land within the confines of the north side of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. It’s said that the Yi-Ba Highway adopts the construction standards of four-lane highway with design speed of 80 km per hour. And its section in Yiling District has been opened to traffic on October 1, 2012.

　　Once completed, the Yi-Ba Highway is supposed to have the most beautiful landscape along the way in Hubei Province since it traverses the Three Gorges Gallery, via numerous national 5A-class scenic spots, including Qu Yuan’s Hometown, Three Gorges National Geological Park, Xiaofeng Tourist Area, Ba People Suspending Coffins Scenic Spot, Gaolan Scenic Spot, Shennongxi River Scenic Spot, Three Gorges Scenic Spot, Lesser Three Gorges Scenic Spot and Shennongjia Scenic Spot.

　　It’s said that the Hu-Rong Highway runs from Shanghai to Chengdu, via Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing and Sichuan, which is considered to be an essential part of the national road system or the so-called “five major vertical highways and seven major horizontal highways on the road map of China” that consists mainly of national highways and trunk lines. There are plenty of major cities along the way, such as Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nanjing, Hefei, Liu’an, Macheng, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Jingmen, Yichang, Wanzhou, Dianjiang, Nanchong, Suining and Chengdu. (Reporter Tan Ting)