The Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan governments are setting up a company to build a second highway linking Guangzhou with Shenzhen, which will shave 30 minutes off the two-hour journey time when it opens in 2007.
The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Land and Resources have approved the 97km route for the link - provisionally called the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Yanjiang Highway - according to an official with the Guangzhou Development and Reform Commission.
'We will begin construction of the highway at the end of the year,' the official said.
The new road is expected to cost 14.2 billion yuan, of which 300 million yuan will be spent this year.
It will link Bicun, in Guangzhou's Huangpu district, with Shekou in Shenzhen and connect Guangzhou's second ring road with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western corridor.
The 11-year-old Guangzhou-Shenzhen highway operated by a Hopewell Holdings subsidiary is used by 90,000 vehicles a day, causing serious traffic jams.