Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

has an expansive grade-separated highway and expressway network consisting of 16 municipal express roads, 10 provincial-level expressways, and 8 national-level expressways. Three municipal expressways and four provincial-level expressways are also under construction.

Municipal express roads

Most municipal express roads are found in the inner districts of Shanghai, including several elevated highways which run directly above surface-level roadways. In Chinese, these expressways are literally termed ''city high-speed roadways'' (), and their maximum speed is typically . These are still considered expressways or

controlled-access highways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

because of the presence of ramps, grade-separated junctions, and the absence of traffic lights. Most of these expressways are elevated and run above a lower-speed roadway. The Inner Ring Road is a beltway, while the Middle Ring Road, once fully constructed, will also be a beltway.

Primary express roads

These are primary express roads that form a major backbone of expressways within the city core. Of these four, the Inner Ring, North–South, and

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an) ...

Elevated Roads form a 申 (a Chinese abbreviation for Shanghai) shape. The Middle Ring forms a second orbital surrounding the Inner Ring Elevated Road, but is not yet fully complete.

Auxiliary express roads

These are other express roads that serve as part of the municipal expressway network. Of these, six belong to the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub, a network of municipal expressways serving

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is one of the two international airports of Shanghai and a significant airline hub of China. Hongqiao Airport mainly serves domestic and regional flights, although the airport also serves international fl ...

Provincial expressways

Designations for provincial-level and federal-level expressways in Shanghai had the letter prefix ''A'' before the number of the expressway. Starting at the

Yingbin Expressway The Yingbin Expressway () is a in the city of Shanghai, China. It is designated S1 for its entire length and serves as the main expressway from the city center to Pudong International Airport, Shanghai's main international airport. Before 2009, ...

, which was designated the number ''1'', the numbers increased clockwise around the city. For ring expressways, the designations A20, A30, A40, etc., were used. For expressways connecting to other provinces which already had national designations (beginning with the letter ''G''), designations with the letter ''A'' were attached. In August 2009, Shanghai replaced its system of naming expressways with the prefix ''A'' with the letter prefix ''S'', in order to conform to the standard designations for provincial-level highways within China. The ''S'' means ''Shengdao'', or provincial-level roads. The letter prefix ''A'' was abolished.

National expressways

National highways and expressways in

both have the prefix ''G'', an abbreviation for ''Guodao'' (), which literally means ''National roads''. It is important to note that both grade-separated, controlled-access expressways and normal at-grade highways both have the prefix ''G''. Only the national-level expressways are mentioned here. National-highways which are at grade and not controlled-access are also found in Shanghai, and these include Kokudou 204(China)

G204,

G312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans , p ...

G318 China National Highway 318 (G318) runs from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the China- Nepal border. It is the longest China National Highway at in length and runs west from Shanghai towards Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, and ends in Ti ...

, and

G320 China National Highway 320 (G320) runs southwest from Shanghai through the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou before ending in Ruili, Yunnan at the Sino–Burmese border. It is in length.bridge-tunnel crossing spanning the Yangtze Delta to the north of the city. The

G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway The Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway (), designated as G40 and commonly referred to as the Hushaan Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi. It is in length. The expressway was completed after Chongqi B ...

follows the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel from

Pudong Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic cit ...

to Changxing Island, and then over the

Shanghai Yangtze River Bridge The Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge is a bridge–tunnel complex across the south fork of the Yangtze River near the river mouth in Shanghai. The tunnel connects the Pudong District of Shanghai on the south bank of the river with Cha ...

from Changxing to

Chongming Island Chongming, formerly known as Chungming, is an alluvial island at the mouth of the Yangtze River in eastern China covering as of 2010. Together with the islands Changxing and Hengsha, it forms Chongming District, the northernmost area of the ...

and finally via the Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge from Chongming to Qidong in Jiangsu Province on the north bank of the river. A second fixed crossing is planned to the west of this bridge, and will become part of the S7 Shanghai–Chongming Expressway.

References

{{Highway System of Shanghai