China mulls high altitude expressway in Qinghai-Tibet plateau

After constructing extensive rail links in Tibet, China is planning to build 1,900-km long express highway connecting Tibetan capital Lhasa with neighbouring Qinghai province through rugged high mountainous Himalayan region known for its freezing temperatures.
"China has the capability to build an expressway linking up Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in west China if major technical barriers are overcome, if technical barriers can be overcome," Wang Shuangjie, technical consultant of the project and leader of the Communist Party of the CCCC First Highway Consultants Co said.
"Technically, we have the confidence to build the Qinghai-Tibet Expressway," Wang was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency today.

Heading a technical support team for the project, Wang said the primary technical barrier lies in the 500-km frozen earth belt along the planned 1,900-km expressway that links Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa with Qinghai provincial capital Xining.
Lhasa is the only regional capital that is not connected by China's expressway network, but the Sichuan-Tibet highway, along with Qinghai-Tibet highway and Xinjiang-Tibet highway, are the three major roads to the remote and strategic Himalayan region.
Extreme conditions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as high altitude, low oxygen content, strong solar radiation and freezing temperature, pose challenge to the expressway's construction and its future maintenance, Wang said.

China has already built 1956 km long Qinghai-Tibetan railway connecting Xining with Lhasa, regarded as the longest and highest plateau in the world.

It was subsequently extended to Xigaze close to Sikkim border recently.
The expressway will span areas where the average altitude is above 4,500 meters and annual average temperature is below zero.
Wang and his team will have to address problems concerning the possible environmental effect of the expressway and come up with proper technology to repair the fragile ecological environment once it is damaged.
He said the suggestion to build the expressway based on the existing roadbed of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is not feasible due to price.

Currently, China has completed the construction of the roadbed of the expressway's 300-km session between Xining and Caka in Qinghai, while construction of the 400-km session linking Xining with Golmud is still under way.
The rest of the 1,100-km section remains a hard nut to crack for engineers, but what was learned in building the high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet railway may help, the Xinhua report said.