Shiyan City in China’s Hubei Province has seen a major increase in its road and highway network, due to significant spending on road construction in the area. Between 2011 and 2015, the total length of the road network in Shiyan City increased to 26,989km, following spending of some US$7.07 billion on road construction by the authorities. The network expansion programme also included building four highways, with a total length of 522km while the rural road network grew by 7,425km in all. The development of