New expressway to quake epicenter opens

A pier along the expressway was ruptured, 295 meters of Longxi tunnel collapsed, and 1,931 meters of Zipingpu tunnel were severely damaged in the quake, causing a loss of 2.2 billion yuan ($323.5 million).

Vehicles run on the newly finished highway connecting  Yingxiu town and Dujiangyan city, both hard-hit by last  year's massive earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan  province, May 11, 2009. [CFP]

The expressway also leads to Wenchuan county through a second-grade highway linking Yingxiu town with the county seat. Construction on the expressway started in December 2003 with an investment of 3.16 billion yuan.

The expressway was nearing completion when the quake struck on May 12 last year.

Rebuilding of the road started in June last year and opens to traffic today.