Highway linking Beijing's new airport with downtown nears completion

The construction of a highway connecting Beijing's new international airport with the downtown area has been finished 70 percent, Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said Wednesday.

Located on the border of Beijing and Langfang, Hebei province, the new airport was named the Beijing Daxing International Airport in September and the highway is to be named the "Beijing Daxing International Airport Highway."

According to the commission, the highway's subgrade engineering has been finished, and it has entered the asphalt paving phase. The whole construction work will be finished in the first half next year.

Melting snow materials have been added to the asphalt at the uppermost layer, which will help melt snow automatically during winter, according to the China Communications Construction Co Ltd.

As the key part of the construction project, the turn work of four major bridges to cross a railway, a high-speed railway, a road and a new rail line will be carried out in early Dec, according to the Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co Ltd.

A senior manager from the BIIC said that it is very difficult to organize and coordinate the turn work of four bridges and it has to be finished within 100 minutes.

The highway is part of the five vertical and two horizontal integrated transportation networks outside the Daxing international airport.

It starts from the Tuanhe Bridge of South Fifth Ring Road to the airport's northern ring area, which is about 27 kilometers long, has eight traffic lanes and the maximum designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

When the highway is in operation, vehicles can reach airport from South Fifth Ring Road in about 20 minutes.