High in the heart of Central Asia’s mountains, China has opened a record breaking expressway tunnel that carries traffic almost 10,000 feet above sea level. Carved beneath the Tianshan range in Xinjiang, the project combines extreme altitude, harsh winter conditions and long distance engineering into a single piece of infrastructure. I see it as a showcase of how far road building has pushed into terrain that once acted as a hard barrier between regions.
Two world records in a single tunnel
The new Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is being presented as both the world’s longest expressway tunnel and one of the highest altitude road links of its kind. At roughly 9,842 feet above sea level, it sits in a zone where thin air, ice and rock instability usually conspire against large scale construction, yet the route has been designed for routine highway traffic rather than a niche mountain pass. That combination of length and elevation is what turns a regional transport upgrade into a global engineering milestone.
Engineers had to contend with temperatures that reportedly dropped to minus 43.6°F while keeping excavation and lining work on schedule, a reminder that this was as much a battle with climate as with geology. According to technical accounts, the tunnel stretches for about 22 kilometers and was completed in roughly five years, a pace that underlines how aggressively China has been expanding its high altitude road network, with the 9,842 foot elevation and the minus 43.6°F construction environment highlighted in detailed coverage of the project by engineers and analysts.
Anchoring a strategic corridor across Xinjiang
What makes this tunnel more than a record book entry is its role in a broader corridor that cuts across Xinjiang. The structure sits on the G0711 Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, a route that links the regional capital to the south and effectively punches through the central Tianshan Mountains instead of skirting them. In practical terms, that turns a once formidable mountain barrier into a predictable, all weather road segment that logistics planners can rely on.
Earlier project descriptions cast the tunnel as a crucial section of the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, with a total length of 22.13km cited for the underground portion that traverses the Tianshan range and connects the northern and southern parts of the region. That framing is consistent with engineering reports that describe how the tunnel runs beneath the central Tianshan Mountains and forms part of the G0711 Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, with the 22.13km figure and the mountain alignment detailed in technical notes on the Tianshan Shengli alignment.
From construction site to open traffic
For residents and truck drivers, the key moment was not the last blast of rock but the first day the tunnel opened to traffic in Xinjiang. Official accounts describe how vehicles are now flowing through the 22.13-km Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, turning what used to be a slow, weather dependent mountain crossing into a controlled expressway segment. I read that as a shift from a project measured in cubic meters of excavation to one measured in minutes saved on the road.
Reports from URUMQI describe the opening as a world first in terms of expressway tunnel length, with the 22.13-km structure now carrying regular traffic beneath the Tianshan. Those same accounts emphasize that the tunnel’s construction saw world level records set in both length and altitude for an expressway facility, a claim that is central to the way the project is being presented in Xinjiang and that is spelled out in detail in official summaries of how the world’s longest expressway tunnel opens to traffic in Xinjiang.
Urumqi to Yuli, and a shorter drive across the mountains
The tunnel’s strategic value becomes clearer when I look at the cities it connects. The expressway links Urumqi, the political and economic center of Xinjiang, to Yuli county in the Bayingolin Mongolian autonomous prefecture to the south. Instead of forcing traffic to detour around the Tianshan or crawl over high passes, the new alignment cuts directly through the range, tightening the relationship between the north and south of the region.
Regional reports describe how the expressway connection between Urumqi and Yuli is expected to sharply reduce travel times, with the tunnel itself turning a once arduous mountain segment into a predictable, high speed link. The description of Urumqi as the regional capital and Yuli as part of Bayingolin Mongolian autonomous prefecture is central to that narrative, and it is laid out in detail in coverage of how the expressway links Urumqi and Yuli through the new tunnel.
Engineering through altitude, cold and complex geology
Building a 22.13km tunnel at nearly 9,842 feet above sea level is not just a matter of scaling up standard roadwork. Crews had to manage ventilation in thin air, stabilize rock under high in situ stress and keep machinery running in deep winter conditions that can freeze hydraulic systems and concrete alike. I see the reported minus 43.6°F temperatures as a shorthand for a whole suite of technical adaptations, from heating systems in work areas to specialized materials that can cure properly in the cold.
Technical briefings describe how the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel was completed in just more than four years as a crucial section of the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, a timeline that suggests intensive use of parallel excavation faces and advanced tunneling equipment. Those same accounts stress that the tunnel traverses the Tianshan Mountains and that its 22.13km length required careful staging of ventilation, safety exits and monitoring systems, details that are spelled out in engineering focused summaries of how Xinjiang completes the world’s longest expressway tunnel.
Travel time, trade routes and everyday mobility
For drivers, the most tangible change is measured in minutes rather than meters. Accounts from the route describe how the new tunnel has cut a once lengthy mountain drive to a fraction of its previous duration, turning what might have been a multi hour detour into a short, direct passage. That shift matters for long haul truckers moving goods between northern and southern Xinjiang, but it also changes the calculus for families considering a weekend trip or a cross regional commute.
Visual coverage of the opening shows vehicles emerging from the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel on the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, with captions noting how the new alignment slashes the time needed to cross the mountains to just 20 minutes for the tunnel segment itself. That figure, along with the identification of the route as part of the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, is highlighted in descriptions of an aerial drone photo that captures a vehicle driving out from the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel on the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway.
National ambitions and the symbolism of Tianshan
At a national level, I read the tunnel as part of China’s broader push to knit remote regions into a denser web of highways and rail lines. The Tianshan range has long been a symbolic and physical divider in Xinjiang, and boring a 22.13-km-long expressway tunnel through it sends a clear message about the state’s capacity to reshape geography in service of integration and development. It also fits into a pattern of record setting infrastructure that is meant to demonstrate technical prowess as much as to solve practical transport problems.
Analytical pieces on the project point out that China has been willing to invest heavily in long, high altitude tunnels to support its economic and political goals, with the Tianshan project framed as a flagship example of that strategy. The description of the tunnel as the world’s longest expressway facility at an altitude of 9,842 feet, and the emphasis on how Engineers braved temperatures of minus 43.6°F to complete it in just five years, are used to illustrate the ambition of China’s projects, a point that is made explicitly in coverage of how China opens the world’s longest expressway tunnel at 9,842 feet.
Xinjiang’s evolving role as a transport hub
Zooming back down to the regional scale, the tunnel is already being woven into a narrative of Xinjiang as a rising transport hub. By tightening links between Urumqi and the south, the expressway supports the growth of cities that sit along the corridor and strengthens east west flows that connect inland China to Central Asia. I see this as part of a gradual shift in which Xinjiang is framed less as a distant frontier and more as a crossroads for trade and logistics.
Regional commentary describes how the new tunnel helps transform the route from a barrier into a corridor, with particular attention to its role in supporting a transportation hub in southern Xinjiang. That framing is captured in reports that speak of the project as turning a once forbidding mountain chain into a channel for movement, a theme that is laid out in detail in coverage titled From barrier to corridor, which explains how the world’s longest expressway tunnel opens to traffic and supports that hub.
A new landmark in the Tianshan landscape
Beyond its economic and political implications, the tunnel is also reshaping how people experience the Tianshan Mountains themselves. Drivers who once had to climb over high passes now dive into a long, engineered corridor that emerges in a different climatic zone, compressing the sensory experience of crossing a major range into a controlled, twenty minute passage. For many, the most visible sign of this change will be the portals and approach roads that now mark the mountainside.
Location based information already treats the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel as a distinct place in its own right, with mapping entries pinpointing its portals and describing its role in the regional expressway network. Those entries, which identify the tunnel as a major feature in Xinjiang’s Tianshan area, are reflected in geographic listings that show the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel location as a new landmark on the map.
Global context and what comes next
Placed alongside other long road tunnels worldwide, the Tianshan Shengli project signals a shift in where the most ambitious highway engineering is happening. While Europe and Japan have long dominated lists of record length tunnels, China is now pushing those benchmarks into higher altitudes and more remote regions. I see that as part of a broader competition in infrastructure where records are less about bragging rights and more about demonstrating the capacity to open up difficult terrain.
International coverage notes that China opened to traffic a 22.13-km-long tunnel in Xinjiang, described as the world’s longest expressway facility of its kind, and that this link connects URUMQI with major cities in the south through the Urumqi–Yuli Expressway. That description, which highlights the 22.13-km-long figure and identifies the project as part of China’s national network, is laid out in reports that explain how China opens world’s longest 22 km expressway tunnel in Xinjiang, suggesting that future projects may push even further into high mountain environments.
Supporting sources: world’s longest expressway tunnel opens to traffic – 埃及中国周报.
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