URUMQI, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Thursday marked the opening of four new highways in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, bringing the total length of expressways in the region to over 10,000 km, according to the regional transport department.

The newly constructed highways are in Hotan Prefecture, Aksu Prefecture, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, and Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Changji.

The opening of the highways in the first three locations is particularly of great significance to improving the investment and development environment in southern Xinjiang and smoothing the traffic in the Tarim Basin.

Xinjiang plans a fixed-asset investment of 80 billion yuan (about 11.9 billion U.S. dollars) in highway transportation this year. In 2021, the region's fixed-asset investment in highway transportation came in at 69.05 billion yuan.