(News on December 16) The Yichang section of the Yi-Lai Highway (Yidu-Laifeng Highway)project was officially approved by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission on December 15, which marks the official approval of the project, according to the Municipal Transportation Bureau.

　　The Yichang section of the Yi-Lai Highwayis an important link connecting G59 Hubei Highway(Hohhot-Beihai Expressway) and G6911 An-Lai Highway (Ankang-Laifeng Highway). It is also the only uncompleted section of the Yangxin-Xianfeng Highwayin the “Hengwu” channel (five main expressways in thehighway skeleton network in Hubei) in our province. It runs through three contiguous poor areas in Wuling destitute mountain areas such as Wufeng, Hefeng, Laifeng

　　With a total length of 93.5 kilometers, the section adopts the standard construction of a four lane expressway with a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour and a subgrade width of 25.5 meters. The bridge-to-tunnel ratio is 75.4% with an estimated investment of 17 billion yuan. With the approval of the Hubei Provincial government, the project adopts a franchise model, and the consortium is determined as the project investor through public bidding. The consortium consists of 9 interpreters, namely: Hubei Provincial Communications Investment Company, Zhongnan Survey and Design Institute, Hubei Changjiang Road and Bridge Co., Ltd., China Communications Second Navigation Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd., China Railway Sixth Bureau Group Co., Ltd., China Railway Bridge Bureau Group Co., Ltd., The Second Harbor Engineering Company, China State Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd.（CSCEC）, Hubei Provincial Transportation Planning and Design Institute.

　　Due to the inevitable occupation of “ecological red line”(those delineated areas requiring special protection according to a national guideline issued in 2014) and basic farmlands, the Hubei Provincial Department of Natural Resources issued the project land pre-examination and planning site selection opinions;the Hubei Provincial Department of Transportation delivered industry review opinions, and Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission commissioned a third-party evaluation agency named China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. to issue advisory opinionsafter the approval of the report by the Ministry of Land and Resources

　　At present, the preliminary design of the project has been finished, together with the registered inventory along the designed expressway, and the completion of temporary construction projects such as the construction unit’s resident site. It is expected that the construction will start at the end of the year. (Reporter Tian Dongming, correspondent Wang Yinhuan)