The Status Quo and Development Prospect of ChinaS Highway Transport

The first part of this paper describes the status quo of China's highway transport in the light of transport structure, highway network, motor vehicles and the position and role of highway transport in the national economy, and analyzes causes for the backwardness of highway transport in China. The second part of this paper predicts the demand for transport capacity and the development of highway network and motor vehicles in the process of the development of commodity economy, looks forward to the development prospect of China's highway transport by the year of 2,000 from technological advance point of view and points out that China's highway transport will develop from an initial stage (in which highway transport is only the auxiliary means for other transport modes and mainly used for short distance transport) into a higher stage (in which highway transport will become an independent transport mode), and the highway transport will perform double functions, i.e. not only the capillary but also the artery in the national comprehensive transport system