Nignbo's road density hit 6.9 kilometers per square meter in 2022, 0.1 km higher than the previous year and ranking 11th among cities nationwide, according to a recent report.

The report was released by institutions including the Urban Transportation Infrastructure Monitoring and Governance Laboratory of the Ministry of Housing and the Urban-Rural Development and China Institute of Urban Planning and Design.

Thirty-six major cities in China were evaluated for the ranking.

The average road density of these 36 major cities stood at 6.3 km/sq km this year, up 1.6 percent year-on-year, according to the report.

Of the 36 monitored cities, 17 are located in the Yangtze River Delta, a region encompassing the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui as well as Shanghai municipality. The delta's average road density reached 5.9 km/sq km, slightly lower than the national average.

Ningbo, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, was ranked fourth in the delta in terms of the density, only behind Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hefei.

Haishu district topped the city with a road density reaching 8.3 km/sq km, followed by Yinzhou district (8 km/sq km), Jiangbei district (7.8 km/sq km), Beilun district (5.5 km/sq km) and Zhenhai district (5.5 km/sq km).

Ningbo aims to lift the total length of expressways in the city to over 170 km by 2025, according to an urban-rural construction development action plan unveiled by the local government during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.