Well-developed highways and expressways connect Xiamen with other parts of China by way of Fuzhou-Xiamen and Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Expressways. Container freight services are available between Xiamen - Shenzhen-- Hong Kong.

In 2000, a total of 600 million RMB was invested in highway construction. The major projects included the Round-the-Island Road between Yanwu Road and Baicheng with investment of 210 million RMB, Lianhuang Tunnel with investment of 287 million RMB, the 2nd phase of rerouting of National Highway 319 with investment of 107 million RMB, National Defence highways and Wenzeng Road. Major progress had been achieved in implementing the policy of the municipal party committee and government in "speeding up road construction in rural areas for common prosperity" and the construction of roads with the residential areas for the three-gorges immigrants. A total of 54.29 million RMB was invested in 24 road construction projects in rural areas including the road between Shangbu and Getou, the first phase of Tongnan Road, the road between Meibu and Yunbu and the road between Tingyang and Qiongtou. By the end of 2000, the total highways were 1051.22 kilometers long. Density of highways was 68.36 kilometers per 100 square kilometers, higher than the provincial level of 41.73 kilometers per 100 square kilometers and one of leaders around China. Landscaping areas along the highways were 6.21 million square metres and the landscaping rate reached 100%. The model highways extended for 139.93 kilometers or 71% of the total mileage. National and provincial highways extended for 141.96 kilometers and 93.7% of them were in good conditions. The score for maintaining quality was 89.3% and all these highways were landscaped and 95% of plants there were well kept.

By the end of 2000, there had been 497 highway transport companies, up 109 companies over 1999, from which 37 (including taxi companies) were for passenger transport, a drop of 6; 260 were for freight transport, up by 98; 60 were for both freight and passenger business, down by 2; 16 were carrying and loading companies, about the same as 1999; 35 were engaged in transport service, up by one; 73 were container transport companies, an increase of 18; 12 were car leasing companies, an increase of one; 2 were delivery companies, a decrease of three.

There were 25143 transport vehicles in operation, an increase of 3867 vehicles, from which 1366 were passenger buses, an increase of 56 buses; 3437 were taxis, an increase of 70; 17017 were trucks, an increase of 2669; 1141 were farm vehicles, a decrease of 1016; 1560 were tractors, a decrease of 272.

There were 138 bus routes available within the city with a delivery of 4748 buses per day. With the destinations expanding, there were now regular buses connecting Xiamen with other cities in Fujian and other 10 provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guizhou, Anhui, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangsu. Regular buses were also available among towns and 99.32% of the villages had regular buses. The bus connections between rural and urban areas were satisfactory and smooth. The volume of passengers handled reached 32.7 million, up 14.2%. The figure of the number of passengers multiplied by mileage was 2063.115 million, 8.84% of the total in Fujian, up 58%. The volume of freight handled reached 13.64 million tons, up 19.7%. The figure of weight of freight multiplied by mileage was 1325.222 million, a decrease of 1.6%.

Highway and Highway Transport

For the highways, Xiamen bridge, state routes 319, 324 and province route 205 have been expanded while Haicang bridge, freeway among Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou, the 2nd stage of the ring road have been constructed to achieve a total mileage of 1051 km for the whole city by the end of 2001. The highway density of 69km/ 10 thousand square km leads in China while is the first in Fujian. Among them, the distance for freeway is 54km, 189.7 km for grade 1 highway, and 475.42 for high-leveled highways. The highway capacity of 36.73 million passengers and 13.25 million tons of cargoes greatly enhances the influence of Xiamen.

(2000)

In 1999, Xiamen completed 26 highway construction projects at a cost of 1.056 billion RMB and there were roads connecting all towns and administrative villages. Currently, the mileage of highway reached 1060 kilometres, an increase of 2.25%. The density of highway was 69.89 kilometres per square kilometers, up 1.53 kilometres per square kilometers. Highways under various levels reached 960.72 kilometres, an increase of 4.64%, from which expressways were 54 kilometres, level-one highways were 191.25 kilometres, level-2 highways were 112.39 kilometres, level-3 highways were 124.25 kilometres and highways of various other levels were 478.54 kilometres. The highways with high-grade surface extended for 434 kilometres, up 13.91%; highways with second-rate surface were 192 kilometres. There were 205 bridges of 14991 metres long, from which 5 were intersections of 4809.86 metres long and 4 were super-large bridges of 9243 metres long. By the end of 1999, the highways under special maintenance were 410.08 kilometres. Among the general mileage, the national highways were 134 kilometres, the provincial highways were 50 kilometres, the county-level highways were 375 kilometres, the town-level highways were 501 kilometres. Around the highways, there were 8851 arbor trees, 80926 square metres of flowers and shrubs, grass areas of 1448501 square metres and nursery of 12 hectares. The mechanization and modernization were achieved in upgrading the maintenance of roads. The highways under maintenance extended for 997.81 kilometres, or 92.25% of the total length of highways. 86.5% of the highways were well-kept with the comprehensive figure of appraising being 94.1%. 94.1% of the major route highways were satisfactory with the comprehensive figure of appraising being 88.3%. 75% of the highways were excellent and all of them were built to standard and as scheduled.

1999 saw a major development in highway construction. On Dec. the 30th, Haicang Bridge was put into use, marking that the 2nd ring of highways had been formed to support the local economy in the west and laying a solid foundation for the construction of the 3rd ring. The suspended roadway which comprised of Haicang Bridge was 5926 metres in length. The Haicang Bridge proper was 1108 metres with the main span being 648 metres. The road surface there was 36.6 metres with six vehicle lanes and emergency lanes. Haicang Bridge proper was a suspension bridge of an advanced triple-span continuously suspended construction, the first of its kind in Asia and only the second in the world. Landscaping designs were included in the bridge, the first time to be applied in this kind of large-scale bridge. As a result, it became a large-scale complex of functions including transport, culture, landscaping and sightseeing. It was a big step in the way of building Xiamen into a modern scenic tourist port of international reputation.

With the appraisal of 3.8-kilometre Qianbu stretch, the provincial and municipal major project, concluded in Oct., the 2nd phase of construction of the Round-the-Island Road came to an end. Another infrastructure development for the Haicang Bridge Project, the rerouting of National Highway 319 was finished and the road was opened to traffic on Dec. the 20th. Extending for 8.23 kilometres and designed to the standards of level-one highways, the highway built at a cost of 142.02 million RMB was 60 metres wide and had six lanes.
Road construction at county and township levels was speeded up. Currently, the length of roads at these levels took up 82.64% of the total highways. The road construction played a decisive role in helping the farmers shaking off poverty and becoming better off. 19 new or improvement projects were built at a cost of 63.95 million RMB. The major projects included 13.59-kilometres-long Tongnan Highway started in Oct. and to be built at a cost of 71.19 million RMB. The 9.47-kilometres-long Maxiang-Xindian-Dadeng Highway built with concrete had opened to traffic, from which the stretch between Maxiang and Xindian was level-two highway and the stretch between Xindian and Dadeng was level-four highway. The completion was of positive importance in boosting the Xiamen Dadeng Cross-straits Trade Market and the Dadeng's economy and implementing the general transport strategy.

The road construction had created favorable conditions for the road transport. By the end of 1999, there had been 388 road transport companies, an increase of 31 or 8.68%, from which 43 were engaged in passenger transport; 162 were freight transport businesses; 62 had both business; 16 were carrying and loading companies, 34 were for transport service, 55 dealt with container transport (an increase of 9); 11 were car leasing companies and 5 were commodity delivery companies.

There were 23076 transport vehicles in operation, an increase of 1800 or 8.46%; from which there were 1310 buses with 32022 seats, increases of 152 vehicles and 3475 seats; 3367 taxis with 16835 seats, decreases of 10 taxis and 50 seats. There were 14345 freight transport vehicles, an increase of 2442, from which 541 were container trailers, a decrease of 286; 2157 were for farm use, a decrease of 331; 1832 were tractors, a decrease of 444.The handling capacities for passenger and freight transport were enhanced by 13% and 20.5% respectively. The tractors and farm vehicles were on their way out. There were 138 bus routes available within the city with a delivery of 3036 buses per day. Expressway passenger service was further developed. Following the establishment of Minnan Express Transport Company, Fujian Express Transport Company, a joint venture with counterparts in Fuzhou, Lufeng Express Transport Company, a joint venture with Longyan, and Xiamen Express Transport of various investors were formed. With the destinations expanding, there were now regular buses connecting Xiamen with other cities in Fujian and other 10 provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guizhou, Anhui, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangsu. Regular buses were also available among towns and 99.32% of the villages had regular buses, basically meeting the demand of farmers. The bus connections between rural and urban areas were satisfactory and smooth. The volume of passengers handled reached 28.629 million, up 18.3%. The figure of the number of passengers multiplied by mileage was 1305.456 million, up 50.84%. The volume of freight handled reached 15.057 million tons, up 26.15%. The figure of weight of freight multiplied by mileage was 1417.508 million, an increase of 37.11%