Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks... The situation began to change only in the 80s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure it was impossible to continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed. We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.

The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.

The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand km. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand km! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million km, including 104.5 thousand km of expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!

SECRET TECHNOLOGIES

The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005–2010, investments in the creation of a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17–18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.

Federal or local authorities completely control construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work has been completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without compromising quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.

MONEY ON THE TABLE

Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years. Toll for cars - from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3–3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks - from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.

I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...

The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island with the mainland with a bridge 32.5 km long. Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.

BROTHERS - FOREVER?

How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?

A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new Western Europe - Western China highway (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!

Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects, I am sure Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov. - We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.

It seems that the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait could be the first, but very serious, joint project. Judge for yourself: in difficult conditions it is necessary to build a bridge crossing 19 km long, which will run along a dam across the island of Tuzla to Kerch. The Taman Peninsula, Tuzla and the Crimean coast will be connected by two spans of a two-tier combined road-railway bridge - 1.4 and 6.1 km long. And to approach the bridge, it will be necessary to build at least 40 km of roads in Taman, 8 km of highways in Kerch, 17 km of railways... The bridge will also serve as a support for water pipelines. Unfortunately, we have no experience in constructing facilities of this scale. European companies are no help here - they will not go to Crimea so as not to fall under sanctions. And the Chinese have a lot of experience: they are now building the longest bridge in the world: Macau - Hong Kong. Its length is 58 km.

750 meters per hour - this is the speed at which new roads are being built in China today. How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and how can our neighbors’ experience help us?

FROM NOWHERE

Half a century ago, China was one of the most backward countries in terms of the length of paved roads. The Chinese government believed that there were more important tasks... The situation began to change only in the 80s, when it was understood that without modern road infrastructure it was impossible to continue. There was even a slogan: “If we want to get rich, we must first build roads.” At this time, the government adopted the first plan for the creation of a network of national expressways and corresponding quality standards were developed.

We decided on sources of financing for construction (state budget funds, local budgets, road maintenance fees, additional duties when purchasing a car, excise taxes on fuel). Since 1985, all this has been formalized by separate laws (many organizational problems have not been resolved to this day). At the same time, the state allowed the introduction of tolls on high-class highways to return loans for construction.

The first expressway, Shanghai - Jiading (18.5 km), was opened in 1988, after which the construction of similar routes began to grow. Already in the first decade, China has achieved results in road construction that took Europe and the United States more than half a century to achieve! The construction of highways raised the level of all road construction and allowed a backward industry, where the main means of production were a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a hand roller and millions of low-paid workers, to reach a modern level. Serious manufacturers of road equipment have emerged.

The construction of highways continues today, and at the same fantastic pace. By the beginning of the 21st century, their length exceeded 10 thousand km. In 2002 - already 20 thousand, and in 2008 - 60 thousand km! By the end of 2013, the total length of highways exceeded 4.1 million km, including 104.5 thousand km of expressways. According to the Transport Development Program for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), in the coming years a network of expressways will be formed in China that will connect all regions and almost all cities with a population of over 200 thousand people. Already today there are 300 thousand bridges in China (a thousand of them are more than a kilometer long). The country has taken second place in the world in terms of the number of modern roads, and all highways were built in 20 years!

All of China is covered by a network of expressway toll roads, some of which have no free alternative. Drivers pay, but don’t complain: after all, you can quickly get to any point in the country!

SECRET TECHNOLOGIES

The Chinese have not invented anything new. Government and regional institutions are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of freight and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. There is a lot of money in the country, including free money - money that can be used to create modern infrastructure. Rhetorical question: why didn’t they do this in Russia when the country was literally flooded with petrodollars? In 2005-2010, investments in creating a network of national expressways in China amounted to 17-18 billion US dollars per year, and now, when the main arteries have already been put into operation, they spend 12 billion annually.

Federal or local authorities completely control construction, but it is carried out, as a rule, with the contractor’s money. And the state or regional government will pay him only after all the work has been completed, and precisely within the amount specified in the contract. High rates are a direct result of such a system: builders want to return the money invested as quickly as possible. At the same time, without compromising quality: the specified service life of roads is, as a rule, at least 25 years.

MONEY ON THE TABLE

Most roads in China are free. There are also two types of toll roads: state (built at the expense of the budget) and commercial (built at the expense of companies’ own or borrowed funds). For an ordinary motorist there is no difference between them, but according to the law, a state road must become free after 15 years of operation, and a commercial road after 25 years.

Toll for cars - from 0.25 to 0.6 yuan (1.3-3.3 rubles) per 1 km, depending on the time of day, season, etc. For trucks - from 3 to 7 rubles, which is not much different from European tariffs. But there are two differences from Europe or neighboring Japan. Firstly, all roads in cities are free, even if they are futuristic six-level interchanges, like in Shanghai. And in Tokyo, entry to the multi-level city freeway is paid. Secondly, there is not always a free alternative road, and in such cases each time a separate decision is made at the government level.

I've driven a lot on Chinese roads. To be honest, among them there are also old, broken ones, especially in the north of the country. But new roads, interchanges, bridges, as well as the pace of their construction are amazing. Sometimes the area is not recognizable: I remember that last year there was an open field here and some huts stood, but today there is a highway, and on the second level, and new interchanges are being built...

The most impressive thing was the Donghai Bridge, built three years ago. When you look at the map, you get the feeling that it leads to nowhere and ends in the open sea. But it's not like that. Shanghai's port, the world's largest by turnover, is located at the shallow mouth of the Yangtze River and cannot handle today's huge tankers and container ships. To solve this problem, a new port was built on the small island of Yanshan - just for such ships. And they connected the island with the mainland with a bridge 32.5 km long.

Fantastic building! Six to eight traffic lanes, excellent coverage, lighting... It’s like driving on the open sea! So, Donghai was built in just three years! And this is not the longest bridge in China: in Shandong province there is a bridge over the Jiaozhou Bay that is 36.5 km long. And for reference: seven of the ten longest bridges in the world are in China.

Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, is quite successful in solving its transport problems. The main “secret of the company” is to build as many new roads and interchanges as possible.

BROTHERS - FOREVER?

How can Chinese experience be useful to us? What can we do together to defeat the first eternal Russian misfortune?
A number of joint projects are already being implemented: for example, new border crossings are being built on the Russian-Chinese border and highways leading to them. It is planned to build two bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk - Haihe (there is already a project) and in the Trans-Baikal Territory, near the village of Pokrovka. Both Chinese and Russian companies will work. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire are very interested in the opportunity to participate in our main infrastructure projects - the construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow region, the new Western Europe - Western China highway (for them this is the most important transit direction!). And the main object that at least two leading Chinese companies have set their sights on in recent months is the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. As soon as this project became known, a large delegation of Chinese experts immediately arrived in Kerch. And it wasn’t just that they showed me the Donghai Bridge!
“Chinese partners would like to invest about five trillion rubles in the development of our transport infrastructure over five years, and I believe that our cooperation has very good prospects,” said Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. - We have already managed to agree with partners on a number of key issues. Firstly, Russian and Chinese companies will work together at all stages. Secondly, Chinese banks and funds are ready to invest in joint projects, directly, in yuan and rubles. Thirdly, there is support at the highest level both from our side and from China.

Reference

By the way, on average, the construction of 1 km of four-lane highway in China costs $2.9 million. We have about $7 million, but this includes funds for the purchase of land, the transfer of communications and other expenses, which amount to 40–50% of the total amount. So the prices are comparable. But for some reason the results are different: in our country a little more than 600 km of roads are built a year, and in China – up to 10,000 km! True, in China they invested up to 4% of GDP in road construction, and in our country - only 1%... So it turns out that now the total length of paved roads in China is 4.5 times greater than in Russia. But 30 years ago the Chinese had nothing to brag about. Maybe in a few decades they will improve our roads too?

When you fly over China, you are amazed at the scale of road construction. Huge overpasses, interchanges, tunnels and bridges are being built everywhere. You are flying as if over a computer game map.

I would like to remind you that in Russia there are no two large cities that would be connected by a normal highway without villages, traffic lights, traffic police posts, narrowings, etc. The Moscow-St. Petersburg highway has been under construction for about 5 years now and is presented as something super-modern. 2013 is just around the corner...

Now 1 km of four-lane highway costs $2.9 million in China., in Brazil - $3.6 million, in the USA - $4 million. In Russia, more than $17 million is spent on 1 km of road. The cost of 1 km of the route on the section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway from the 15th to the 58th km was $134 million. 1 km of the Western High-Speed ​​Diameter road of St. Petersburg cost $142 million...

The construction of roads in China is carried out by the state, and most of them are free. There was an attempt to collect tolls, but it was quickly abandoned on a large scale.

In China, roads are treated as an important tool for strengthening statehood, so much attention is paid to the problem. The pace of construction reaches 30 thousand kilometers of multi-lane highways per year, and its technologies (laying a base of concrete slabs and covering it with asphalt) ensure operation for 20-25 years.

The Chinese are not doing anything supernatural - they are taking into account the growth rate of citizens’ well-being, the increase in the number of cars and the growth in cargo transportation volumes.

As for the low cost of their roads, it is explained by the low cost of labor and materials and the good organization of construction.

In China, they focus on the costs that exist in other countries, reduce them by 2-2.5 times, and present these amounts to contractors. In Russia, money is allocated based on how much was spent in past periods.

In China, payment is largely based on the results of the work. With us, money is immediately allocated to the contractor, and the quality is accepted by almost anyone.

In China, the contractor insures the road from the amount received, and repairs are carried out not from budget funds, but from insurance funds. And the “corruption tax” in the Middle Kingdom is much less than in Russia.”

In 10 days China is building as many roads as were built in Russia in all of 2008.

From 2003 to 2008, a 480 thousand kilometers of roads.

Total length - 1.9 million kilometers.

By 2020 it should reach 3 million kilometers.

There are 300 thousand road bridges in China, 700 of them are longer than a kilometer.

They say that China will rule the world, I still can’t answer for sure whether this is true, but not everyone knows that in 10 days they build as many roads in China as were built in Russia in the entire 2008.

In China, roads are treated as an important tool for strengthening statehood, so much attention is paid to the problem. The pace of construction reaches 30 thousand kilometers multi-lane highways per year, and its technology (laying a base of concrete slabs and covering it with asphalt) ensures operation for 20 - 25 years.

Cost of 1 kilometer four-lane motorway:

• China - $2.9 million
• Brazil - $3.6 million
• Russia - $12.9 million (Moscow - St. Petersburg highway from 15th to 58th km - $134 million; Fourth Ring of Moscow - about $400 million)

In China, the total length of the road network is 1.9 million km, of which 133 thousand km are in toll roads. In 2007, the length of the toll expressway network in China amounted to 53.6 thousand km. By 2020, it is predicted that the length of the PRC highway network will increase to 3 million km, of which 85 thousand km will be toll highways.

The Chinese don't nothing supernatural- they take into account the growth rate of citizens’ well-being, the increase in the number of cars and the growth in cargo transportation volumes. As for the low cost of their roads, it is explained by the low cost of labor and materials and the good organization of construction.

In China, they focus on the costs that exist in other countries, reduce them by 2-2.5 times, and present these amounts to contractors. In Russia, money is allocated based on how much was spent in past periods.

In 10 days, the same number of roads are built in China as were built in Russia in the entire year 2008.

• From 2003 to 2008, 480 thousand kilometers of roads were built in China
• Total length - 1.9 million kilometers
• By 2020 it should reach 3 million kilometers
• China has 300,000 road bridges, 700 of them longer than a kilometer

Payment is largely based on the results of the work. With us, money is immediately allocated to the contractor, and any quality is accepted. The Chinese contractor insures the road from the amount received, and the repairs are carried out not from budget funds, but from insurance funds. And the “corruption tax” in the Middle Kingdom is much less than in Russia.

However, in large cities it often happens congestion and traffic jams. Outside cities, the roads are so busy that the speed of cars does not exceed 40 km/h. Surprisingly, on the highway and even on highways you will meet pedestrians, horse-drawn carts, cyclists, and even tractors, which local residents use as regular transport. All this interference forces Chinese drivers to use the horn endlessly.

From 2005 to 2010, the annual investment for the National Expressway network is US$17–18 billion, and from 2010 to 2020, annual investment is estimated at approximately US$12 billion.

In 2007, 8.3 thousand km of new toll expressways were built in China; in 2008, it is planned to introduce another 6 thousand km of toll expressways and bring their total length to almost 60 thousand km.

For comparison: in the Russian Federation there are currently virtually no highways or expressways. For the future In 2020, it is planned to build only 3 thousand km of toll highways in the Russian Federation.

In China, as a result of the implementation of a long-term construction program national expressway system a network of toll highways will be created covering a region of one billion people. China's expressway system is called the 7-9-18 Network, based on the number of highways:

• 7 lines radiating from Beijing;
• 9 lines directed from north to south;
• 18 lines directed from east to west;
• 5 ring lines and more than 30 connecting roads.

There are two types of toll roads in China:

• « government", which are built through loans provided to the Government of the People's Republic of China by various banks. Such roads are operated as toll roads for 15 years, and then, after the loans are repaid, they must be converted to free roads;
• “commercial”, which are built at the expense of corporations’ own and borrowed funds, the period of toll operation of such roads is 25 years.

Tolls on China's toll roads range from 4.2 US cents per 1 km to 10 US cents per 1 km for passenger cars. For trucks, tariffs are comparable to the fees established, for example, in Germany - $0.12–0.21 per 1 km. In order to get from Beijing to Fuzhou (in southeast China), you will have to pay about 1,600 yuan for a passenger car, which is almost the same as the cost of an air ticket to the same destination.

Well, we can only dream of such a road transport system as in the PRC, or...

At this rate, new roads are being built in China today. What's stopping us?

The bridge and road construction records set by the Chinese are impressive. The other day they built an interchange for a new railway station in 9 hours.

1.5 hours - and the bridge is ready

1,500 workers and 23 excavators connected 3 major railway lines overnight to the new Nanlong line in southern China. At the same time, they not only paved the road, but also installed traffic lights and other means of control along it. As Zhang Daosong, deputy head of the Tiesiju Civil Engineering group - the main builder of railways in China, explained, the project was completed in record time due to the fact that the workers were organized into 7 teams that simultaneously performed various tasks. But it is obvious that the secret of Chinese success is not only smart management.

It's also about technology. So, in 2016, the Chinese turned two bridges 100 m long by 90 degrees in 1.5 hours. Huge structures were assembled along the railway track and then installed perpendicularly on prepared supports. At the same time, the busy highway under the railway tracks was not blocked - everything happened right above the cars.

In 2015, the Chinese dismantled the old and assembled a new 6-lane road bridge in Beijing in 43 hours. During this time they also managed to apply markings. The new bridge surface required a 1,300-ton structure, which was transported ready-made. As a representative of the contractor explained, a new technology of “integrative replacement” was used. Reconstruction in the usual way would have taken at least 2 months, but the key transport crossing in the northeast of Beijing, connecting the 3rd ring road, the airport expressway and Route 101, could not be blocked for so long.

They build in a week what we build in a year.

750 m per hour - at this speed new roads are being built in the Middle Kingdom today. All expressways were built in the last 20 years! How did the “Chinese road miracle” happen and why can’t we adopt this experience?

Population explosion or hoax? How many Chinese are there really? “In terms of construction, China has long overtaken not only us, but the whole world,” Pavel Goryachkin, president of the Union of Estimating Engineers, explained to AiF. - In terms of production volumes of building materials, it is simply unrivaled, even the Americans are far behind. A simple example: we produce 79-80 million tons of cement per year, and the Chinese produce more than 1 billion tons! This is a serious indicator, especially since they do not export cement. They build as many roads in a week as we do in a year. We used to laugh at Chinese counterfeits, but they, like a sponge, absorb all new technologies. Now we are not talking about manual labor, when a million Chinese were rounded up and they dug some kind of pit with shovels. No! We are talking about high-tech construction. Today, the Chinese produce on their territory almost the entire range of necessary construction machinery and equipment. Chinese engineers study at the best universities in the world, do internships at the best construction sites, and this is supported in every possible way by the state. They understand that construction is one of the engines of the economy, which is why they invest. The Chinese are very hardworking and talented people. The technological solutions show how they are progressing.
But even with the amount of money we pour into our construction projects, for some reason we can’t work like that. Of course, we can do something: the technology is modern, the market for building materials is developed, and there are engineers, but... In China, construction is a priority for the state, but over the past two years, we, builders, have only heard threats and insults from officials: they say we don’t need shared construction, all developers are thieves and crooks. Rosstat records a decrease in the volume of produced building materials by 10%. According to the Supreme Arbitration Court, builders are in the forefront in terms of the number of bankruptcies. What kind of industry development can there be here?!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Let us add that in China, government and regional officials are planning how the transport network should grow - taking into account the development of the economy, the direction of cargo and passenger flows, and the growth in the number of cars. A lot of money is allocated for this. But, although the cost of 1 km of highway in our countries is approximately comparable, in the Middle Kingdom they are built many times faster and with better quality - the specified service life of the highway there is 25 years.
The only good news is that our builders already have joint projects with the Chinese. The largest road construction corporations in the Celestial Empire want to invest in Russia, which means we need to learn and adopt their experience. And not only for engineers and builders, but also for managers.