Transport in Hubei

Situated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Hubei province in Central China enjoys a unique geographic location.

Highways

By the end of 2018, Hubei province had constructed 3,865 kilometers of first-class highways and 11,763 km of second-class highways. All counties and cities in Hubei have been connected to national highways. Hubei's total length of highways and rural roads ranks among in the top three in China.

In 2018, Hubei renovated 24,000 km of rural roads and finished highway security works along 27,000 km. It also built 10,014 km of beautified rural highways. It is expected that another 10,000 km of rural highways will be beautified in 2019, and 50 demonstration towns will be established to integrate the development of transport and poverty alleviation to promote rural tourism.

Expressways

The total expressway length, covering both those completed and under construction, had reached 7,500 km by the end of 2017, and 6,251 of them put into operation.

Eight sections covering 329 km expressways in Hubei are under construction in 2019. It is estimated that the length of expressways in Hubei under operation will reach 6,700 km.

Two highway bridges across the Yangtze River will be built in 2019, including one in Shishou. Shishou, in Hubei's Jingzhou city, is the only county in Hubei that is divided by the Yangtze River but has no bridges across the river.

Waterways

According to statistics released by Department of Transport of Hubei province, the cargo throughput of all ports in Hubei reached 370 million tons in 2017 with a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent and the container handling capability reached 1.67 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up 18 percent year-on-year.

Hubei's waterway freight volume in 2017 amounted to 361 million tons, climbing by 1.1 percent. The tonnage mileage reached 278.9 trillion ton kilometers.

Currently, Hubei operates 38 ports, covering four major ports, 15 important ports and 20 common ports. The four major ports in Hubei are Wuhan Port, Huangshi Port, Jingzhou Port and Yichang Port.

Railways

Hubei will put 856 km of railways into operation in 2019, with the total railway length under operation reaching 5,150 km, including 1,572 km of high-speed and inter-city railways.

Airports

Hubei province has six airports: Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, Yichang Sanxia Airport, Shiyan Wudangshan Airport, Enshi Airport, Shennongjia Hongping Airport and Xiangyang Airport.

Wuhan Tianhe International Airport is the largest airport with the most complete functions in Central China.

An airport in Hubei's Ezhou city is under construction and is expected to be put into operation in 2021.