China has an ambition to extend its expressway networks to 82,000 kilometers, which may finally bring benefits to over one billion people, Minister of Communications Zhang Chunxian told Xinhua in Beijing recently.

Capital cities in all provinces and autonomous regions as well as 83 percent of large cities with over half a million population will be connected by the expressway networks, Zhang said.

In 2003, China built 4,600 kilometers of new expressways, extending the total length to 29,800 kilometers, according to statistics from the Ministry of Communications.

In 1989, the expressways in the Chinese mainland reached only 271 kilometers. The figure amounted to over 10,000 kilometers in 1999 and rose to 25,200 kilometers by the end of 2002.