World’s longest expressway tunnel completed in Xinjiang

The world’s longest expressway tunnel completed in Xinjiang paving way for a new shortcut.

The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, recognized as the world’s longest expressway tunnel, has achieved a major milestone by completing tunneling on Monday morning. This development paves the way for a new shortcut connecting the southern and northern regions of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Spanning 22.13 kilometers, the “Shengli” Tunnel—meaning “victory” in Chinese—will dramatically cut the travel time across the Tianshan Mountains’ central section. Once operational, the journey, which previously took several hours, will take just about 20 minutes.

The tunnel is designed as a dual-direction, four-lane expressway with a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour. Situated deep within the Tianshan Mountains, it is positioned at an average altitude exceeding 3,000 meters, as reported by China Media Group (CMG).

Over four years, a workforce of more than 3,000 tackled challenging conditions, including high altitudes with low oxygen levels, and addressed geological risks such as rock bursts, soft rock deformations, and collapses, the CMG report highlighted.

Despite harsh environmental conditions and complex geology, the construction team completed the tunnel in just 52 months—significantly faster than the typical 72 months required using conventional methods, according to CMG.

The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is a crucial component of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, which connects Urumqi, the capital of northern Xinjiang, to Yuli County in southern Xinjiang. Scheduled for completion and full operation by 2025, the expressway will reduce driving time between these locations from approximately seven hours to just over three hours.