East China's Shandong province is to ask its residents to express their opinion on the reconstruction and extension project of the Jinan-Qingdao highway on May 24, the Qingdao Morning News reported.

The project is scheduled to start construction in December 2015 with a planned completion date in June 2019. The new eight-lane highway extension will be 309 kilometer-long with a designed speed of 120 km/h. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around 2.8 billion yuan ($452 million).

The highway will occupy a total area of 2,946 hectares and go through 55 towns and sub-districts, six of which are in Qingdao.