Highways 
  
 
In old Tibet, there was no highway in its truest sense, forcing Tibetans to rely on human and animal power for transportation. There wasn't a single civilian vehicle. In the half century since the peaceful liberation in 1951, the Central Government has invested some 7 billion yuan in construction of highways in Tibet. This has led to the construction and opening in steady progression of the Sichuan-Tibet, Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet and China-Nepal highways; Tibet has also built the Naqu-Qamdo, Lhasa-Xigaze and Lhasa-Yadong highways.

After 1989, the Central Government invested a total of 1.709 billion yuan to renovate the Qinghai-Tibet Highway on two occasions. Efforts were also made to asphalt the Qamdo-Bamda Airport Section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the Lhasa-Gonggar Airport Highway, and the Quxui-Xigaze Section of the China-Nepal Highway. This has helped to boost the highway transport capability of Tibet.

During the 10th Five-Year Plan, investment to the tune of 14 billion yuan went into the transportation sector representing one-third of Tibet's total investment in capital construction. In 2003, Tibet used 3.13 billion yuan of State investment, and the figure rose to 3.6 billion yuan in 2004 and 5.12 billion yuan in 2005, the funds being used to renovate the Lharze-Tingri Section of the China-Nepal Highway, part of the National Highway No.317 and part of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. The same period has also seen construction of more roads including the Nanggarze-Gyangze Highway, Mainling-Nang County Highway, Damxung-Nam Co Lake Highway, Zetang-Gyamco Highway, Kangma-Yadong Highway, Nagqu-Jiali Highway, Bar-Zhada Highway, and other trans-county roads. Of these, 20 belong to rural highway construction projects (with a total length of 1,500 km) covering 17 townships and 131 rural villages. In the past three years, some 2.1 million farmers and herders have got involved in road construction in some way and each of them made an additional 100 yuan a year.

Major Trunk Highways

Highways, Bridges and Ferries