This is the most beautiful expressway in China In China, roads are considered an important tool for strengthening statehood, so much attention is paid to the problem. The pace of construction reaches 30 thousand kilometers of multi-lane highways per year, and its technologies (laying the base of the roadway from concrete slabs and covering it with asphalt) ensure operation for 30-40 years. Reducing the travel time of passengers or cargo by just 1% allows increasing the country's GDP growth by 0.25%. Is this a lot or a little in conditions when some stagnating economies of the world are now fighting for fractions of a percent? This makes them and many others hastily turn their attention to the need to develop high-speed modes of transport and the development of corresponding high-quality high-speed road infrastructure. The Yaxi Expressway in China is called a "super-cool structure." The road line winds between high mountains and powerful ridges. On average, for every 1km, the average altitude above sea level increases by 7.5m, making it also known as the 'high-speed staircase to heaven' and 'highway above the clouds'. The 240km road, officially named Yaxi, cost over $4 billion and took five years to build. It has become a tourist attraction because it passes through the picturesque scenery of Sichuan Province. Not only is the region extremely mountainous, it is also an active earthquake zone, so the Skyroad's designers had to use innovative thinking. Engineers solved the problem by using tunnels and viaducts to cover half the length. Skyroad chief engineer Peng Li said: 'Constructing modern roads is a very challenging task from a technological point of view because we have to keep up with the development of the automobile industry and there are many factors to consider when designing road surfaces and layouts. “With today’s luxury cars, passenger expectations are high, so the roads need to be designed to match the smooth ride and comfort that luxury cars offer. To achieve this, we used a huge amount of innovative technology, materials and features, including the world’s longest continuous downhill stretch of 51km with a 3% gradient and the world’s first double-helix tunnel.” One of the biggest challenges in building the Skyroad was its location in a geologically unstable region prone to earthquakes. Not only did this affect the design, but it also meant that the structure needed to be strong enough to withstand such potential natural disasters. “There were often a lot of landslides, which made construction very difficult,” added Li, “and from a design perspective, a lot of innovation is required to create an expressway that will operate reliably in an earthquake-prone region.” The Skyroad has halved travel time between Chengdu and Liangshan and opened up a region of China famous for its tea production, as well as ceramics, flowers, silk, spicy cuisine and wild pandas. The Yaxi Expressway is one of the most magnificent and extraordinary projects in the world, with 270 viaducts and 25 tunnels. The total length of tunnels along the road is about 41 kilometers. The Ganhaizi and Tiezhaizi double spiral tunnels are the world's first small-radius tunnels of their kind. The Nibashan Tunnel is one of the largest deep tunnels in China, with a depth of 1,650 meters and a length of 9,962 meters on the left line and 10,007 meters on the right line. This tunnel shortened the journey, which took several hours around the mountains and through the valleys, to only 10 minutes. The crown jewel of the new highway is the Labajin Girder Bridge, which has one of the highest bridge piers in the world at 182.5 meters. Unlike other large piers in China, the highest piers on the Labajin Bridge were built with four steel corner columns that were filled with concrete and connected by concrete slabs to form a hollow box structure. This unique type of pier has never been built before. The Yaxi Expressway is considered to be a mountainous area with the worst natural environment, the most complex engineering and the highest technological content in the world. That is why it has the reputation of being the "Heavenly Road." The Chinese believe that quality roads are not cheap, but off-road conditions are more expensive. At the same time, the Chinese know how to count money. In the construction of modern highways, time-tested experience and the best technological solutions are used, taken from German autobahns and American highways, which do not require repairs for 35-40 years. And of all places, it is in China that they know how to study, adopt, copy and implement world advanced technologies, introducing their own Chinese specifics into them.