New highway opens in China's largest desert
The highway connecting Yuli County and Qiemo County is the third one across the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
A new highway traversing the Taklimakan Desert in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was put into operation on Thursday.
Located in south Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, the highway, connecting Yuli County and Qiemo County, is the third one across the Taklimakan Desert, the world's second-largest shifting-sand desert.
With a designed speed of 60 or 80 km per hour for different sections, the highway has a total length of 334 km, with 307 km passing through the desert.
The highway has been built with an estimated total investment of about 1.75 billion yuan (US$261.5 million) and its construction started in October 2017.
