URUMQI -- China broke ground on Saturday on a new expressway across the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the country's northwest, aiming to cut travel time between the region's north and south and strengthen both tourism and trade links.

The 393.7 km Duku Expressway will run from Dushanzi in northern Xinjiang to Kuqa in the south of this region, and has a design speed of 100-120 km per hour. Scheduled for completion in 2032 -- the road will reduce driving time to around five hours.

Famed for its scenery, the current Duku highway, or Dushanzi-Kuqa highway, is open only four months a year due to snow and ice. The new expressway is expected to provide year-round travel and connect popular attractions such as the Narat grasslands.

"This is something we've long been waiting for," said Bayankexike, a herder from Narat township. "In the past, winter snow cut us off. It was hard to get medical treatment or buy supplies. The expressway will make life much easier."

Authorities say construction faces challenges due to the high altitude and harsh weather in this region -- allowing only a short annual building season. Builders will, notably, use advanced tunnelling methods and cold-resistant materials to keep the project on schedule.

The Duku Expressway is expected to improve the transport network in the country's west and promote economic integration in Xinjiang, said Wang Xinghua, deputy head of the region's transportation department.

Over the past decades, China has worked to connect northern and southern Xinjiang via roads -- such as the Urumqi-Korla and Dushanzi-Kuqa highways. Travel in Xinjiang has become more convenient thanks to such infrastructure improvements.

All prefectures and over 90 percent of counties in Xinjiang are now accessible by highway, while the length of railways in the region had totaled 9,202 km as of 2024 -- nearly double the 2012 figure, according to a government white paper released Friday on the governance of Xinjiang.