Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province, issued an ambitious development plan for urban transportation for 2019 at a press conference on Feb 26.

Jinan is striving to develop itself into a national comprehensive transport hub by speeding up the construction of a complete high-speed rail network, international airports and railway hubs and urban rail traffic lines.

The Jinan International Airport will be expanded to reach a throughout of 22 million passengers. International routes will be added, including routes to cities that partake in international and industrial cooperation with Jinan, and tourist hotspots.

Local authorities will improve the construction of rail traffic R2 and R3 lines to ensure that the R3 line will be put into a first trial operation ahead of the National Day and the R2 line will be ready for operation by the end of next year.

It will accelerate plans for the expansion of the transportation network in the city and improve rail transit operation services, and implement a safety supervision system.

Jinan has also paid more attention to the development of trolley buses and open three new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines, including to Liuchangshan Road and Jiefang East Road. The BRT system can provide a quality transportation service similar to rail transit while enjoying the low costs and flexibility of bus transit.

In addition, the government will complete the reconstruction of Jinan-Qingdao expressway and the Pingyin section of Qingdao-Lanzhou expressway, making for a total of 75.5 kilometers.