A desert expressway opened to traffic Friday in northwest China, linking one of the country's largest gas and oil fields and the world's seventh largest coal reserve.

Construction of the expressway started three years ago and costs about 1.8 billion yuan (217 million US dollars).

The 134-km expressway, linking Yulin City to Jingbian County in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, is a major part of the state-planned trunk line in China's west.

Officials said the road runs mainly along the Great Wall, and the majority of it travels through the Mu Us Desert, one of the biggest in west China.

Completed 40 days ahead of the schedule, the four-lane expressway can carry vehicles traveling at an average speed of 100kilometers an hour.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2003)