LHASA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A new expressway linking Lhasa, the capital of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, with the city of Shannan, which is known as the birthplace of the Tibetan civilization, opened to traffic on Wednesday, according to local traffic authorities.

The new Xizang S5 Expressway stretches 47.46 kilometers from Lhasa to Tsethang, located in the downtown area of Shannan. It decreases the driving distance between the two cities by 65 kilometers, reducing the time it takes to travel between the two locations to just one hour, according to the Lhasa municipal transportation bureau.

The project had an estimated total investment of 9.43 billion yuan (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars), with a two-way, four-lane design and a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour. Bridges and tunnels make up 65 percent of the whole route.

The expressway will facilitate travel for people living along the route, and is expected to stimulate the development of the local tourism, agriculture and animal husbandry industries, promoting high-quality economic development in the region, the bureau said.

In recent years, the region has made rapid progress in its road construction. As of the first half of 2024, the total length of highways in Xizang reached 123,300 kilometers, including 1,196 kilometers of expressways. The total length of rural roads in the region is 93,000 kilometers.