URUMQI - The Chinese section of a transcontinental expressway project linking China to Europe opened to traffic on Saturday.

The key 10-kilometer section of road, in the border city of Horgos, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, connects a border inspection area with the Lianyungang-Horgos expressway. It marks the full opening of the expressway in China.

The project - with a total length of 8,445 km - links Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, to St. Petersburg, Russia. China and Kazakhstan jointly proposed building the transport corridor in 2006. Construction began in 2008.