highway

Valladolid and León have been longing for a highway that connects them for more than 25 years. 75 million will be spent to build 10 kilometers

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Valladolid and León are linked by 142 kilometers and a claim. Specifically, converting the N-610 secondary road into a two-lane highway in each direction. The project has received a small but important push. One that should culminate in the construction of a dozen more kilometers in a project that has been talked about for more than a quarter of a century. What’s new? That the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility approved last Tuesdayprovisionally, the connection between Villanubla and La Mudarra to continue advancing in the construction of the A-60 highway, which should connect Valladolid with León, currently separated by a national highway. Of course, the approval given by transport does not guarantee that these 10 kilometers will be carried out because, for the moment, any affected neighbor can present the appropriate allegations or observations in relation to the expected expropriations that are going to be carried out. To do so, interested parties have 30 business days. A new step. If consolidated, what will be built will be a 10-kilometer stretch between Villanubla and La Mudarra, a connection close to the Valladolid airport where, until now, the A-60 highway ends on its exit from this city. The project has an estimated budget of 74,750,633.16 euros. There seems little progress but if we take into account what has been done so far, the qualitative leap is more than evident. And right now, There are only 45 kilometers built of the more than 120 kilometers through which the highway is expected to run. That is, with those 10 kilometers, we would be close to reaching half of it and would represent around 10% of the total work. A 20th century project. The issue is especially painful for the neighbors because the project has been on the table for more than a quarter of a century. To find its origin, we must go back to 1997 when it was approved for the first time to deal with the matter in the Cortes. However, it was not until 2002 when the first procedures began, as stated in Europa Press. This last section, in fact, has been frozen for years and is now beginning to be processed urgently. In Valladolid newspaper They point out that the first time the papers were put on the table for these 10 kilometers that separate Villanubla from La Mudarra was 2017. However, the passage of time has caused the deadlines to expire, so it was not until the end of 2025 that a push was given again to the construction of this new section. The current situation. Right now, covering the distance that separates Valladolid and León represents an inappropriate expenditure of time for the distance that separates them. The short route is the N-610 highway, a secondary road with 142 kilometers that requires almost two hours of travel. There are also no better alternatives to reduce the time one needs. If you want to take a highway, there are not many options. The most obvious requires you to go from Valladolid to Tordesillas, there take the A-6 and then connect with the A-66. In this way, the driver is already forced to get closer (very close) to the two hours and add another 40 kilometers to the trip. Of course, the roads are safer. Security issue. Obviously, the construction of a highway between Valladolid and León would have an immediate impact on the security of the region. According to data from the DGT collected by Valladolid newspaper, In 2024, the N-601 recorded 41 accidents as it passed through Valladolid. That is, almost one accident per week was recorded. That year, nine deaths were recorded before the end of 2024 and in 2023 another 11 people died. Until now, the prevention plans for these accidents have focused on adapting the road to the large volume of traffic on it, with the 2+1 lane projection which should alleviate traffic jams in some points, especially those generated by heavy transportation. Photo | In Xataka | Spain built its roads thinking it was a hot country. Now that’s a problem

Now they are building a “highway” so it doesn’t happen again

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Valencia will not be the same after DANA. The long reconstruction process has not yet finished and there is no shortage of key infrastructure so that citizens can regain normality and, if they suffer floods again, they will be less affected. An example: the new Quart de Poblet substation DANAs-proof to guarantee the electrical supply or the new pipelines of the La Presa (Manises) and El Realón (Picassent) water treatment plants so that no matter what happens, there is no shortage of drinking water. Context. Valencia and its metropolitan area drink from two rivers: the Júcar River (Picassent) and the Turia River (Manises) through their respective Drinking Water Treatment Stations with a high water network system. We are talking about the capital and approximately fifty municipalities, about 1.7 million inhabitants. Until before this canalization work, Valencia’s supply system operated in a compartmentalized manner, that is, the DWTPs were not interconnected. This represents a serious inconvenience: in the event of a failure in one plant (floods, breakdowns, lack of electricity supply) in one, the other does not have the physical capacity to divert flow to the affected sector. In short: there are parts of Valencia that are left without drinking water. Why is it important. Because this water highway project will ensure uninterrupted and proper supply to the metropolitan area of ​​Valencia. DANA tragically taught us that extreme climate events occur closer than we think and that we must get ready because we are going to see more of them: Spain should raise awareness of the culture of emergency. In this sense, a possible blackout or a flood is not a theoretical incident, but something that happens in reality: part of the metropolitan area of ​​Valencia he ran out of water those days. The work. To connect the two water treatment plants, 1,667 meters of pipe have been installed from the end of section I in urban Xirivella to the DN1600 pipe located in Valencia. The project is not new: it began in 2014 and will culminate in 2027 with a final section, which requires this 25-kilometer-long water highway with a large-caliber pipeline (1.4 meters in diameter) under the ground. The new channeling requires tunnels under the Turia River bed and other infrastructure, minimizing the surface impact on the Natural Park and the Orchard, a technical challenge of underground surgery in which the main pipes of the city will be connected, minimizing supply cuts. The total investment is 113 million, of which 13 will go only to this last section. A “smart” water highway. The achievement is not so much the implementation of this new network of pipes but the interconnectivity: now the water will be able to go where it is needed in an intelligent way, so that no one is left without supply, giving a new twist to the resilience of the facilities. From here, the ball is in the state of the Júcar and Turia rivers. In Xataka | Iberdrola deploys in Valencia the first 66 kV substation in the world “armored” in front of the DANA In Xataka | The floods in Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon illustrate something else: Spain is not prepared to deal with more and more hurricanes-storms Cover | Waters of Valencia and EMIVASA

The US spent $600 billion building its highway network. It’s less than what big tech companies are going to spend on AI this year

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The irruption of ChatGPT in the technological panorama in 2022 marked the starting signal in the AI ​​race; a race in which, year after year, large technology companies continue to increase their spending without stopping. 2026 has just begun and, far from letting it go, the big tech They have put their foot even further on the accelerator. All but one. walk or bust. We already know the planned capex for 2026 of the main technology companies, that is, what they plan to invest in capital expenditures. amazon: 200,000 million Alphabet: 175-185 billion Goal: 115-135 billion Microsoft: 140,000 million Apple: 13,000 million If we add it up taking the highest figures they have given, it is 673,000 million dollars, if we take the lowest figures it would be 643,000 million. In any case it is outrageous. In 2025 the figures were already dizzying and we are talking about an increase of around 60%. There has come a point where we have to stop and ask ourselves: How many zeros does that have? (yes twelve). Context of this madness. Here are a few comparisons to put this figure in context. It is superior to Sweden GDP in 2025 (662,000 million), that of Israel (610,000 million) and that of Singapore (574,000 million). As pointed out this user in Xexceeds what it cost to build the entire US interstate highway system (about 634,000 million) and is a quarter of the entire global military spending in a whole year. It’s like spending $1.2 million per minute for an entire year. It doesn’t make any sense. The market response. The fear of a bubble was noted after the announcements of the different companies, causing sharp falls in the stock market despite the fact that all of them have made profits (some breaking records). amazon fell 12% after announcing a capex of 200,000 millionmuch higher than forecasts Alphabet (Google) achieved record revenues, but it was not enough to convince the markets and its shares fell 10% in the following days Goal also announced record revenue and they had a 10% increase. However, days later things changed and they fell 8%. Microsoft fit the strongest blow, with a drop of 18%. Additionally, they revealed that 45% of their cloud business contracts are for OpenAI and the market does not reward dependency. Apple was the winner, with an increase of more than 7% since they announced results. The declines have been corrected in recent days and all companies have seen their value stabilize, but the message was clear: investors fear that this level of capex is far ahead of the ability of AI to generate profits in the short term. Where are they going to get the money from? It’s the big question. As stated in Financial Timescompanies must choose between reducing shareholder returns, using their cash reserves, or borrowing more money. In the case of Amazon, estimates point to a cash flow of 180 billion, Alphabet 195 billion and Meta 130 billion. The threat of free cash flow falling into negative territory is there, so we can expect them to issue more debt and stop share buybacks. Think different. Then we have Apple, which announced revenues of 144 billion in the last quarter, boosted by sales of the iPhone 17 during the Christmas campaign. Its capex is a fraction of what other companies have spent because Apple doesn’t build data centers, it outsources them. He agreement with Google to use Gemini can be interpreted as They have lost the AI ​​racebut in the context of a possible bubble it is a masterstroke: Google is the one who assumes the brutal spending on infrastructure and who is exposed to the bubble, while they benefit from their technology and see how the market rewards them for spending less. In Xataka | What have Apple and Google agreed on for the new Siri? Nobody knows because Google doesn’t even want to mention it. Image | Photo of Adam Nir in Unsplashedited

an unfinished highway that isolates half the region

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The A-43 highway, which should connect Ciudad Real with Extremadura, has been stumbling for almost 30 years. Just like counted The Ciudad Real Tribune, the project first appeared in the General State Budgets in 1997, but has not yet materialized. The connection between Ciudad Real and Extremadura is still in an administrative stage, and it has not really been decided which route it will take to the final point. Very curiously, and as the media reminds us, the Romans solved this same dilemma two thousand years ago: by passing through the south. Why it is important. The N-430, which currently connects both regions, is the only unturned national highway in the entire corridor that crosses the peninsula from east to west. Just as it they remembered In El Periódico de Extremadura, it is “a road with great intensity of traffic, volume of goods and accidents with fatalities.” In June 2025, more than 1,500 people demonstrated in Santa Amalia under the slogan “No more deaths on our road.” In detail. The Ministry of Transport approved last October the public information file for the first Extremaduran section of the A-43, between Torrefresneda and Santa Amalia. There are 11 kilometers with a budget of 78.31 million euros. The new route will start at the junction with the A-5 and will connect with the N-430 east of Santa Amalia, including three junctions, seven overpasses and three viaducts. However, this section is just a fraction of what is expected, since the final objective is to connect Extremadura with the Valencian Community. Furthermore, the decision on which direction to take from Ciudad Real to Extremadura has not yet been definitively made. The Government has been debating for years about whether to follow the N-430 north of Ciudad Real or go through Puertollano to the south. It has also been considered not to build a highway and to carry out maintenance works for this national highway and adapt it. The lesson of the romans. The project Itiner-eled by researchers from Spain and Denmark, has mapped 300,000 kilometers of Roman roads throughout the empire. In Ciudad Real, according to publish La Tribuna, the Roman roads anticipated the layout of current highways such as the A-4, the A-43 between Manzanares and Tomelloso, or the N-420. To connect with Extremadura, Rome chose the southern option. Just like they count From La Tribuna, the old road left towards Poblete, as the A-41 does today, passing through Caracuel de Calatrava, Villamayor, the mining city of Sisapo and continuing to Almadén before reaching Mérida. Two millennia ago the northern option was ruled out due to the difficulty of the terrain. And now what. While the Romans have laid out paths that have lasted for centuries, in Spain we still have doubts about how to tackle the problem of the A-43, a project that has been in vain for almost 30 years. The approved section between Torrefresneda and Santa Amalia is progress, but insufficient to solve the isolation of the region. It remains to define the route in Ciudad Real, budget the remaining kilometers and carry out the works. Cover image | Wikimedia Commons and Google Maps In Xataka | Mérida is not a city used to being at the forefront of technology. That is going to change with the electric car

The time it takes to get to a highway anywhere in Spain, on a revealing map

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Faced with the pressing housing problem in Spain In large cities, one of the simplest solutions for those who can afford it is to leave stressed centers such as Madrid or Barcelona in search of more accessible municipalities and properties. How much? It depends on your budget, what your work is like and what the destination location offers you in such objective terms as services and infrastructure. And there is one essential to move: the distance to a main road. I speak with knowledge of the facts: this was a key factor when choosing a municipality to buy an apartment months ago. My new location has direct access to the highway and getting from there to my trusted padel club in Pamplona is 10 minutes longer than doing it from my old apartment, located in the center of the Navarrese capital. Although it is not ideal, my pocket has appreciated it and the sacrifice is profitable for me. Now, having chosen an idyllic municipality in the Navarrese Pyrenees would have been a very bad idea in terms of mobility (although bucolic on days like today). That was my personal decision, but given the prices, I know that I am not alone: ​​from buying in the capital to doing so in a municipality in the province there are price variations of up to 131% in Madrid or 126% in Álava, according to the latest Idealista study that collects La Razón. Because if the price of the property in Villagónadas de Abajo is the lowest in the province but it is where Cristo lost his lighter, already such. Well yes: the price differences are abysmal and the communications are too. An x-ray of territorial inequality and Spanish orography This map created by Digital Cartography With data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, this is evident. The cartography collects the minutes by car to a highway or highway from a good part of the Spanish state (if there are no this type of roads, as happens in Ceuta or Melilla for example, then they do not appear) with information from 2022. To see everything in a more intuitive way, they have used the colors of the traffic light, where green is what can cost you up to 20 minutes and red goes from one hour to 133 minutes in the maroon areas. The access time to a highway or highway in Spain. Digital cartography with data from the Ministry If we superimposed a physical map with a demographic one we would find a clear diagnosis of red zones in critical areas such as the Asturian massif and the Pyrenees, the muga with Portugal (especially in Zamora, Salamanca and western Extremadura), the Iberian System and the maximum expression of “Empty Spain” in the south of Teruel, the north of the basin and areas of Guadalajara or the Betic Systems. We know that in communications Spain It is a centralized state with Madrid as the nerve center and the lines of these main roads, although they do not appear on the map, can be intuited. Without going any further, it is not too difficult to imagine where the A-2 goes to Barcelona or the A-6 to A Coruña. That is the first clue as to why we find such an uneven map: the radial network model, which leaves enormous gaps in peripheral areas that are not linked to large state/European corridors. Obviously the extreme orography of the Pyrenees or the Iberian System makes construction difficult on a technical and economic level (it is not that it is not possible to lay out viaducts or tunnels, it is that it makes the cost skyrocket), but the Average Daily Intensity mandates: for a public work to be approved there is a cost-benefit analysis and if an area has a low population density, the ADI is low, making it difficult to justify the investment. On the other hand, there are environmental restrictions: some of these red zones coincide with national parks or protected areas. In this scenario, obtain a Environmental Impact Statement (mandatory in projects of this magnitude) is an impossible mission. The small print. Something that I greatly appreciated when I returned to Navarra is that there is no traffic… compared to Madrid. The rush hour for leaving work or school may be noticeable in a few minutes of delay, but it is light years away from the traffic jams that I have had to suffer in return or bridge operations when I lived in the state capital. Because although in Madrid almost everything is green, in practice those minutes correspond to a distance traveled respecting the limits of the road and assuming fluid traffic. In Xataka | This is the DGT map to visualize where there are active V-16 beacons in Spain. There is another more useful unofficial map In Xataka | Europe’s passenger car industry, in a revealing map that makes it clear who is the real “engine” of the EU Cover | Digital cartography

join Navarra and Catalonia by highway

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The Ministry of Transport has tendered for 153.6 million euros the Jaca bypass, the last major political and technical obstacle to completing the highway connection between Pamplona and the corridor towards Catalonia. With this work unblocked after years of neighborhood opposition, Aragon is about to complete its alternative route to the Ebro through the Pyrenees. Why it is important. For decades, the Jaca variant has been the most complicated link in this infrastructure. Much of the municipality was opposed to the project due to the works, noise and associated inconvenience, not without reason. In this aspect, its tender represents having removed the legal and social obstacle that was holding back the project. From now on, it’s all about building. Connections. The variant consists of a new 8 kilometer stretch which will bypass the city of Jaca and connect the A-21 (Pyrenees highway) with the A-23 (Mudéjar highway). This section will divert the medium and long-distance traffic that currently crosses the N-330a and N-240 highways through the center of Jaca, where the speed is limited to 50 km/h and there are numerous intersections and pedestrian crossings. Image: Ministry of Transport In detail. The work contemplate two roads with two lanes separated by a median of variable width, three main interchanges (Jaca East, North and West), three viaducts, five overpasses and a 200-meter false tunnel in the hospital area. According to the Ministry of Transport, the project includes environmental integration measures such as the revegetation of slopes, correction of the barrier effect with special attention to the Camino de Santiago, hunting fencing to prevent access by fauna and protection against noise pollution. The fitting of the puzzle. With the Jaca variant tendered, Aragón has practically resolved its Pyrenean corridor. In the coming months, the 8.7 kilometers that link Sabiñánigo Este with Sabiñánigo Oeste will be inaugurated, and in 2026 they should open another 11 kilometers between Lanave and Sabiñánigo. Only a section of about 12 kilometers will remain pending between Puente de la Reina in Jaca and the A-21 in Navarra, for which the drafting of the project has already been awarded, although the works will not begin before 2030, according to they count from 20 Minutes. Between the lines. This axis formed by the A-21, A-23 and A-22 (Huesca-Lleida) will become a strategic alternative to the Ebro corridorwhich is usually saturated along the route between Navarra, Aragon and Catalonia. In this sense, the project will aim to improve the territorial structure of Aragon and reduce the pressure on other roads at critical times, such as ski season weekends or holiday long weekends, which are times when kilometer delays are usually recorded in the area. And now what. The execution time for the Jaca variant will depend on the award and the pace of work, but the fact that there is already a tender is a relief for all those who were looking for such a connection. After completing this section and the rest that remain pending in the Sabiñánigo area, the Aragonese Pyrenean project will practically materialize, waiting only for the link with Navarra. Cover image | Ministry of Transport In Xataka | This interactive map prepares you for your next flight: it shows if there will be turbulence and how intense it will be before takeoff

A Spanish company won the “golden” contract for the Stonehenge highway. It came out regular

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The United Kingdom has just shelved a project that has been on the table for 20 years: build a road near Stonehenge connect once and for all the jammed London with the southwest of the country. And along the way it has won a ‘golden’ contract that had been awarded to the Spanish company FCC. The figure? 2,000 million euros that remain on the way and a London connection that will continue to be gibberish. Let’s go in parts. Stonehenge is one of the most visited monuments. It is estimated that every year they come 1.5 million tourists to participate in the mystery of this set of monolithic rocks that someone placed it there more than 5,000 years ago. Everything has been theorized and we have two things clear: it is unlikely that one day we will know the motivation behind the workbut we know that the acoustics were impressive. Less imposing is the A303, the road next to it and which is a real nightmare. London is one of the most congested cities in the world. With a population of nine million, 14 in the metropolitan area, and thousands who go to work daily, that connection with the southwest has become one of the entrance arteries to the city. The tunnel is going to cost how much? The problem? Although it is a highway, in the section that passes through Stonehenge it becomes a two-way road. This implies brutal congestion, and that is why in 1995 work began on a solution. The Highway Agency has explored alternative routes, but in the end the easiest thing was to bury the road. Easy, but not cheap: four kilometers long for a tunnel with a cost My dear of 183 million pounds. Then it doubled up to 470 million, 540 million and up to 1.7 billion pounds that they estimated in 2020. It was a stratospheric increase, but Highways England was clear that it was the only way. In fact, They developed a firm project and, in 2022, was awarded to the Spanish FCC Construction. Next to the Italian Webuild and the Austrian BeMo Tunnelling, would give shape to that tunnel whose cost had promoted up to 2 billion pounds. But in the end it was not even the UNESCO (concerned because the tunnels will pass through a World Heritage site) nor the environmentalists who have managed to stop the project. It was the Labor Party. In 2024, the Conservatives were out of power, Labor came in and they found themselves a £22bn hole. Already last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that there would be cuts and that if there were projects they couldn’t afford, they wouldn’t do them. He also commented that all transport projects exceeding £1 billion would be subject to a “comprehensive review”. And, as a result of that situation, and after months on the tightrope, a few days ago communicated that The British government had definitively canceled the project of the new Stonehenge road. Apart from the tunnel, there was a viaduct, new intersections between the A303 and local roads and green bridges for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, but for Reeves and his government, the work was “unaffordable” in the “challenging legacy financial landscape”. The legal battle begins The problem is that something that has been around for 20 years and that was awarded to three companies a year ago has not been frozen in time. At this point, the different companies and Highways England itself had already invested around £180 million in the development, including land assessment, archaeological and heritage preservation studies, as well as public consultations. Although the Government has shelved the A303 Stonehenge project, the problem of which is still there, there is still a way to go for the parties involved. Now the FCC legal fight begins, which, as we read in Expansionhad already completed all the design work for the highway. And it is expected that both the Spanish company and Webuild and BeMo will receive compensation for this cancellation, although the amount has yet to be determined. Images | National Highways In Xataka | They find next to Stonehenge a ring two km in diameter made up of enormous underground wells

A Chinese city has had an idea to simplify changes in meaning: to fly 180º in the middle of the highway

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Changing meaning on some roads is a real nightmare. If we go for a National Highway It is relatively simple, but skip a highway exit or in large avenues of some of the larger and more congested cities on the planetit involves going huge to change the meaning of the march. And in a Chinese city they are applying a solution that facilitates the maneuver: the ‘U -urn‘, or “U turning”. The videos are not very convincing if we talk about security. U -urn. There are several designs when making changes to meaning. The idea is to make as many maneuvers as possible and that these are safe. Roundabouts are an efficient design for this, but on roads with a large number of lanesThey are little practical. You can always turn in the street and turn the block to rejoin the main road, but it takes longer. There the U-Turn that has begun to apply in cities such as Jinancapital of Shandong. The concept is simple: a lane stuck to the median that allows not to turn left, but to make an even more closed turn to join the opposite direction of march. AAAAAHORA. The video that we leave just on these lines is revealing: several cars stop in several numbered squares and wait for their turn to make that change of meaning. A continuous white line makes the difference between that lane and the rest of its march, and a yellow makes medium. How do you get the impatient drivers wait for your turn? Through a traffic light, which is the one that regulates the maneuver. The coordination between the traffic lights allows to stop the traffic of the lane to which we want to incorporate while opening the traffic light that gives green light to the incorporation maneuver, and discontinuous lines on the ground serve as a guide for drivers. Jinan’s U-Turn Risks. Now, although in This video Posted by People’s Daily and In this other Published by MAO NO, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the maneuvers seem idyllic, if we look at both videos and in the above we can see two of the problems, and consequent risks, of this maneuver. On the one hand: the scope that can be produced by the vehicles that already circulated in that direction. There is a traffic light that cuts trafficbut … what happens if they jump it or if they circulated at more speed? The same goes for those who want to incorporate. As the turn is so closed, there may be touches between them. In fact, there are several cars that must lessen or even correct the trajectory so as not to “eat” any of those that are incorporated. An example in the United States. In Florida, specifically Nothing exotic. Now, this U turning is not exclusive to China and, although the implementation in Jinan has caught attention, There are other areas in which it is allowed. The United States or Taiwan are two of them, but in the case of the North American country, it depends on the State and the implementation varies from a discontinuous line on the ground, the regulation through a traffic light or more extreme cases such as a road design that, in Spain, seems exotic: Therefore, although very colorful, that Jinan lane is another implementation of this 180 degree turn to change meaning. In countries outside Europe, where apples are usually smaller and narrower roads, it is normal to see this type of implementations, but in the case of the solution applied in Jinan, the striking is the amount of cars simultaneously that can make the change of meaning. And the problem is that, although functional because it allows a road with a large number of lanes Several cars can make a 180 degree turn simultaneously, in the published videos you can perfectly see that the possibility of a range is there. Images | Mrswagger21 In Xataka | It looks like a 240 -kilometer roller coaster, but it is one of the most amazing and complicated highways in China (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news A Chinese city has had an idea to simplify changes in meaning: to fly 180º in the middle of the highway It was originally posted in Xataka by Alejandro Alcolea .

The “highway to heaven” is a monster of 270 viaducts and 25 tunnels

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In the 80s, the Chinese road network had a long way forward. They had no highways, above all, because the bulk of merchandise transport was made by their Rich Railway Network. However, something began to change in the mid-decade with the Shanghai-Jiading highway, and in 2005, the Minister of Transportation was He committed to build 85,000 kilometers in the next 30 years. Of All that networka small segment is starring one of the most imposing highways in the world. The “staircase to heaven” from China. Yaxi Expressway. That of “All roads lead to Rome“In China, it is applied to Beijing. Yaxi Expresswaya section known as “staircase to heaven.” It is a 240 -kilometer segment that joins the cities of Xichang and Ya’an and that built Between 2007 and 2012 for about 3.3 billion dollars. To put it in context, the average cost Construction of a kilometer of new highway in Spain is 8.8 million euros. It depends on many things, but we are talking about an important extra cost in the case of this highway, and seeing how it is, it seems totally justified. SOBRADA. Within those 240 kilometers, the Yaxi Expressway account With 270 viaducts to save considerable slopes, but also has 25 tunnels. In total, the latter add up to 41 kilometers underground. One of those tunnels is that of Nibashan, who has the honor of being the deepest of China by descending about 1,650 meters in just 10 kilometers. Necessary? Yes, since a journey that previously took hours around a mountain is now completed in just ten minutes. But everything that goes down, must have previously upload, and it is precisely why this highway is known as the “staircase to heaven.” The reason is to rise to more than 2,430 meters, with one of the sections raising 7.5 meters per kilometer traveled. There are 51 kilometers of continuous ascent with an average slope of 3%. That ascension, as well as the complete route if you prefer, can be seen perfectly in this video: Surrounding mountains. In that video there is something very interesting that we can see: the spiral -shaped tunnels, but it is something that is also better appreciated in this image of the Maps tour: The reason is that there are two mountains that do not go through as such, but are “surrounding.” With the idea of minimizing the impact on the environment, this way of drawing tunnels was considered the ideal in a complicated area. In the images in which the relief is shown you can see sections of that ‘snail’ appearing from time to time in the mountain: Beyond muscle. This highway is interesting beyond its technical achievements. Because left the virguerías aside, the Yaxi Expressway allows to connect a mountainous and traditionally isolated area that allows the local economy to develop and that ethnic minorities such as Han, Hui or Tibetans have integration easier. Difficult. And, from the point of view of a user of the road, driving on this road is complicated. The weather is changing due to the change of height we experience, it has very technical slow curves and a great slope of both ascent and down, and that difficulty can be seen in various moments of the video that we share above. But well, beyond this, the “highway to heaven” has become a tourist attraction in the region and is another sample of the Powerful civil infrastructure in China. In addition, what most attracts the attention of all this is how the country has undertaken a lot of Extremely complex works In just two or three decades. AND If we talk about bridgesthe thing shoots. Image | Xinhuavideo/New China TV, Chinese curious In Xataka | Three highways, 20 access ramps: China has the most diabolical exchanger in the world in Huangjuewan

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