In 2024, Jiangsu coordinated efforts in advancing the pilot project of boosting China’s strength in transport and building a demonstration zone for the modernization of transport. The province stepped up the development of a comprehensive modern transport system, moving further toward a leading province in transport.
Infrastructure
The comprehensive three-dimensional transport network has been further enhanced. The province boasts a total road mileage of 159,000 kilometers, with the highest proportion of Grade I national and provincial trunk highways in the country. The expressway network extends 5,231.6 kilometers, ensuring connectivity to all county seats and full coverage of cities and towns with a population of over 100,000. The operational railway mileage reaches 4,730.7 kilometers, including 2,593.6 kilometers of high-speed rail. All prefecture-level cities are now connected by bullet trains, and the framework of a “Jiangsu on the tracks” is largely in place. Additionally, a total of 41 urban rail transit lines are in operation in nine cities, with a combined operational mileage of 1,245 kilometers. The province is home to nine transport airports and nine Grade A1 general aviation airports. Following the selection of the Lianyungang-Xuzhou-Huai’an city cluster, the Suzhou-Wuxi-Nantong cluster (in trans-provincial collaboration with Shanghai) has been selected as National Comprehensive Freight Hub Reinforcement and Chain Strengthening Support Cities, making Jiangsu one of the only three provinces to have received such support for twice.
“Water Transport in Jiangsu” has demonstrated more distinctive advantages. Jiangsu boasts a vast inland waterway network totaling approximately 24,000 kilometers, accounting for about one-fifth of China’s total. This includes 8,818 kilometers of graded waterways, nearly one-seventh of the national total, ranking first in both total length and density nationwide. The Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, two major national water transport arteries, run through the province. Despite occupying just one-seventh of the Yangtze River’s total navigable length, the Jiangsu section handles a remarkable 70% of the river’s total cargo throughput. The province has 2,664 kilometers of trunk waterways at Grade III and higher, connecting 85% of its county-level and prefecture-level cities, as well as 57% of its provincial-level and national-level industrial zones. Notably, 86% of the province’s planned trunk waterway mileage has been incorporated into the national port and waterway layout plan. Jiangsu houses 6,801 productive berths, including 598 that can accommodate vessels of over 10,000 tonnes. The province is home to seven major ports, each with an annual throughput exceeding 200 million tonnes. Altogether, Jiangsu’s ports have a combined annual capacity of 2.98 billion tonnes and an annual cargo throughput of 3.61 billion tonnes. In terms of cross-river infrastructure, 19 passageways across the Yangtze River have been completed, with 10 more under construction. Every pair of prefecture-level cities separated by the Yangtze River is now directly connected by at least one cross-river link.
The initiative to build “Four Good Rural Roads” (referring to rural roads that are well-constructed, well-managed, well-maintained, and well-operated) has achieved high-quality development across the province. A total of 2,330 kilometers of rural roads have been newly built or upgraded, bringing the province’s rural road network to approximately 140,000 kilometers. The goal of building two-lane Grade IV roads for all villages has been largely realized. Thirty counties (county-level cities and districts) were recognized as national model counties for the “Four Good Rural Roads” initiative. The province has promoted the integration of rural roads with other sectors under the “Rural Roads +” initiative, with eight cases making the list of exemplary cases for high-quality development of the “Four Good Rural Roads” initiative, jointly released by the Ministry of Transport and three other ministries of China. Yancheng’s “No. 1 Highway for Yellow (Bohai) Sea Migratory Bird Habitat Tourism” was selected as part of the second batch of national demonstration cases for integrated development of transport and tourism. The Taihu Lake Ring Road was honored as an outstanding case in the Yangtze River Delta transport sector. The Suzhou section of the rural road network was included in China’s Top 20 Most Beautiful Routes for Self Drive Tours in the field of countryside tourism.
Mobility
Significant breakthroughs have been made in the integration of urban and rural transport systems. Jiangsu ranks among the top in China in terms of the number of urban buses and bus routes as well as the total operational mileage. It maintains stable operation of 77 bus routes connecting areas in the adjacent provinces within the Yangtze River Delta, and 89.7% of the neighboring counties (county-level cities and districts) within the province are connected by buses. Nanjing, Suzhou, Kunshan, Changzhou, and Yangzhou were successively awarded the title of “National Model City for Public Transport Development”. Meanwhile, Yixing, Yangzhong, Haimen, Yandu, and Taicang were honored National Demonstration Counties for Urban-Rural Transport Integration. Public satisfaction with public transport in Jiangsu has ranked among the highest in the country for several consecutive years.
The green travel initiative has been advanced across the board. A total of 70 roadside service stations under brand name “Gonglu Yizhan” and another 167 roadside service stations have been established along national and provincial highways. Among them, 82% are equipped with EV charging stations. A total of 226 expressway service areas now feature full coverage of barrier-free facilities, and the electronic billing system have been implemented at all the 460 expressway toll stations across the province. Smart sensing facilities have been installed along the 1,312-kilometer navigable waterways of the Huai’an section of the Yanhe River and the Jintan section of the Danjin-Licao River. In addition, electronic navigation charts now cover 5,665 kilometers of inland waterways. The province-wide trunk waterway operating, dispatching and monitoring system has been completed, enabling real-time visualization, measurement, control, and coordination of inland trunk waterways. Three companies, including Jiangyin Port Group, were selected into the first group of zero-carbon pilot projects for highway and waterway transport and facilities by the Ministry of Transport of China. Nanjing and another 10 cities of Jiangsu were recognized as assessment-compliant cities under the national green travel initiative.
