The Lijiang Airport Expressway opened for service on July 27, becoming the first expressway in northwest Yunnan province.

Built on Dec 23 2009, the Lijiang Airport Expressway is an important part of the provincial highway S211, which runs through Heqing county in Dali and the old town of Lijiang. Heading east, the expressway connects Huaping county in Lijiang and Panzhihua City in Sichuan Province. It passes through Lijiang Airport and Dali in the south and reaches Tibet in the west. Heading north, the expressway passes Ningling county and Ganzi in Sichuan province.

With a length of 27.63 kilometers, it takes only 20 minutes to reach downtown Lijiang from the airport. The project has an investment of roughly 1.17 billion yuan ($183.5 million).

Edited by Zhao Qian and Michael Thai