China has officially opened the world’s longest expressway tunnel, a 22 kilometre passage bored through the Tianshan Mountains at an altitude of about 9,842 feet. Known as the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the project sits at the heart of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway and dramatically reshapes travel across China’s vast Xinjiang region, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
The tunnel cuts the driving time between Urumqi and Korla to around 3.5 hours, down from nearly seven. State media say the change will significantly improve economic integration between northern and southern Xinjiang, easing the movement of energy, manufactured goods, and agricultural products across the region.
Construction began in April 2020 and took five years, a notably short timeline given the extreme terrain and climate. Engineers worked at elevations where winter temperatures can plunge to minus 42 degrees Celsius, conditions that would normally stretch a project of this scale to a decade or more.
To overcome those constraints, builders adopted an unconventional “three tunnels plus four shafts” approach. Instead of driving a single long bore from both ends, they excavated the main tunnel alongside two parallel tunnels. These auxiliary tunnels allowed geological surveys ahead of the main excavation, provided additional access for workers and machinery, and created built in safety routes for ventilation and emergency escape.
Four vertical shafts, some reaching depths of nearly 700 metres, connected the surface to the tunnel below. This design allowed construction to proceed simultaneously at multiple points, greatly accelerating progress. One of those shafts now holds the world record for the deepest vertical shaft used in a highway tunnel.
Located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the tunnel strengthens links between China and Central Asia, as the region borders eight countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. It also aligns with China’s broader dual circulation strategy, which aims to reinforce domestic trade while improving international connectivity.
While modest in scale compared with projects like the Three Gorges Dam, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel stands out for its engineering ambition. It sets multiple world records and shows how China continues to push infrastructure construction into harsher environments, using novel methods to deliver projects once considered impractical.
