Recently, the Shandong Provincial Department of Transport issued a bidding announcement for the construction of the market credit information management platform, and the bidding work for the construction of the Yiyuan Zoucheng section of the Weifang Zoucheng Expressway has officially started. As a key component of the "12 Verticals, 8 Horizontals, and 11 Shoots" expressway network in Shandong Province, the bidding for this section marks the substantial promotion stage of the construction of this transportation artery connecting the Jiaodong Economic Circle and the Lunan Economic Circle, injecting strong transportation momentum into the coordinated development of the four cities along the route.

It is reported that the Yiyuan to Zoucheng section is the core backbone section of the Weizhou Expressway, with a total length of about 176 kilometers (actual planned 177.5 kilometers), passing through three cities of Zibo, Linyi, and Jining. It starts from Linlin Expressway in Yuezhuang Town, Yiyuan County, Zibo, passes through Linyi Mengyin, Pingyi and other places, and ends at the intersection of Jingtai Expressway in Xiangcheng Town, Zoucheng City. The road section adopts the "new construction+utilization of existing road sections" mode, with a new construction mileage of 137.5 kilometers and the utilization of 40 kilometers of existing sections of Linlin Expressway, with a total estimated investment of about 19.66 billion yuan. The entire line is constructed according to the standards of a two-way four lane expressway, with a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour and a monolithic roadbed width of 27 meters. The traffic capacity and safety standards have reached the advanced level in China.

The construction project covers multiple key transportation facilities and will create a fully functional transportation service system. The new section plans to construct 3 super large bridges, 45 major bridges, and 4 tunnels to solve the construction difficulties caused by mountainous terrain. Multiple bridge and tunnel projects will adopt advanced construction technology to ensure project quality and traffic safety. At the same time, 13 interchanges, 3 service areas, and 3 maintenance work areas will be constructed to achieve three-dimensional connection with trunk highways such as Beijing Shanghai Expressway and Rilan Expressway, providing convenient and efficient travel services for drivers and passengers. The bidding scope includes the entire chain of projects such as routes, subgrades, pavements, bridges and culverts, tunnels, traffic safety, electromechanical, environmental protection and greening. High quality construction units will be selected through standardized bidding to ensure high standards for project construction.

As an important component of the S24 Qingdao Shangqiu Expressway, the construction of this section has profound strategic significance. After the completion of the project, it will form a complete passage with the Weifang Yiyuan section of the Weizhou Expressway and the Changle connecting line, with a total length of 286.6 kilometers, realizing the full connection of the Qingdao Shangqiu Expressway. The travel time from Weifang to Zoucheng will be shortened to less than 2 hours, completely changing the previous traffic pattern that required detours. From the perspective of regional development, the road section will directly connect the Jiaodong Economic Circle and the Lunan Economic Circle, strengthen the travel channels of Jiaodong cities such as Yantai and Weihai towards the southwest, promote the optimized allocation of agricultural, manufacturing, cultural and tourism resources along the route, and especially assist in the resource development and rural revitalization of areas such as Yimeng Mountain, accelerating the integration of urban and rural development. In addition, by connecting with the Lianhuo Expressway and other highways, the transportation links between Shandong and provinces in the Yellow River Basin will be further strengthened, and the regional opening-up pattern will be expanded.

At present, the preliminary preparations for the project have been efficiently completed. In September 2025, the section of the highway, along with other sections of the Weizhou Expressway, was approved by the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission. It took only 23 working days from the initial design approval to the preliminary land use approval, setting a new record for the approval efficiency of major transportation projects at the provincial level. The land acquisition and demolition work has been fully launched in counties and cities along the route, such as Zoucheng, Pingyi, and Yiyuan. The land survey and demarcation, as well as the inventory of attachments, have been carried out in an orderly manner, laying a solid foundation for the construction site. According to the plan, the project is expected to officially start construction by the end of 2025 and be completed and opened to traffic by the end of 2028.

The launch of this construction bidding has pressed the "acceleration button" for the construction of the Yiyuan to Zoucheng section of the Weizhou Expressway. Next, relevant departments will strictly promote the bidding process, strengthen engineering quality and safety supervision, synchronously implement ecological and environmental protection requirements, and ensure that the project is efficiently promoted while protecting the ecological environment. After completion, the project will become a major transportation artery connecting the east and west of Shandong, providing important support for improving the layout of the province's expressway network, promoting regional economic integration, and serving the high-quality development strategy of the Yellow River Basin.Editor/Bian Wenjun