China's First Expressways Are Finally "Graduating"
Highways opened more than thirty years ago are now reaching the end of their toll period, edging China toward a new era of free expressways.
In the late 1980s, expressways like Shenyang-Dalian and Shanghai-Jiading began opening to traffic, putting real long-distance driving within reach for ordinary Chinese drivers. Each one came stamped with an expiration date: once the toll window closed, the road would quietly revert to public property.
That clock is now hitting zero, in batches. Sections in Shandong, Guangdong and elsewhere have already stopped charging, and drivers who grew up mentally totting up the per-kilometer cost are suddenly finding the line item gone from their bill.
A road built on borrowed money, then handed back toll-free — it reads like one generation's long, slow investment finally coming due. The next question is already pulling into the fast lane: once the tollbooths are gone, who picks up the maintenance tab?