During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, Fujian province invested 723 billion yuan ($113.22 billion) into building a safe, green, convenient and intelligent modern comprehensive transportation system.

Today, the total road mileage in Fujian province is 110,000 kilometers, including 6,000 kilometers of expressways. Fujian's density of expressways, which is ranked third among all provinces in China, ensures that 80 percent of land-based villages and towns can access expressways within 30 minutes.

The Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Pingtan Haixia Rail-Road Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea highway and railway bridge, opened to traffic in 2020 and is part of a "half-hour life circle" between Pingtan county, Changle district and downtown Fuzhou.

The motto "to allow villages to prosper, the first thing to do is to build roads" is one that Fujian province has remained faithful to. Over the past five years, Fujian has built 12,000 kilometers of rural roads, and the mileage of its rural roads is currently at 93,000 kilometers. 

Dingwuling in Longyan's Changting county is an ancient Hakka village that is known as the "living fossil of Hakka mountain people's primitive life". In the past, despite its rich culture and long history, this village was largely unknown to the outside world as it was only accessible through narrow and rugged mud roads.

But following the construction of a 6.5-meter-wide rural road that connects the remote village with the outside world, Dingwuling has been on a road to prosperity.

The village now welcomes more than 200,000 visitors every year, and the annual disposable income of villagers has been raised to 17,800 yuan, more than three times the figure before the highway was built.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Fujian will continue to make efforts to build a safer, greener, smarter and more convenient modern comprehensive transportation system.