On Sep 8, the Highway Bureau of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Transport announced that the Micang Avenue in Bazhong City will officially open to traffic on Oct 1 this year. Upon completion, the driving time from the Nuoshuihe Scenic Area to the Mount Guangwu Scenic Area will be reduced from nearly four hours to approximately one hour, making it possible for visitors to explore caves at Nuoshuihe in the morning and enjoy the scenery at Mount Guangwu in the afternoon.

Nuoshuihe Grand Bridge

This highway is the only east-west express corridor in the northern mountainous region of Bazhong.

Micang Avenue links seven major scenic spots, including the Mount Guangwu 5A-level Tourist Attraction, Micangshan National Forest Park, Nuoshuihe UNESCO Global Geopark, and Kongshan Tianpen, effectively connecting half of Bazhong's tourism landscape. Meanwhile, it connects with the Ba-Shaan Expressway, the Zhen-Guang Expressway, and five national and provincial trunk roads, enabling rapid access to tourist destinations in Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province, as well as Guangyuan, Nanchong, and Dazhou within Sichuan Province.

The significance of this highway extends beyond mere speed.

Under the planning blueprint for the Greater Shu Road, Sichuan is developing five distinctive scenic routes -- Jianmen Shu Road, Micang Gallery, Micang Rural Charm, Healthy Bashan Mountains, and Jialing Landscape -- along four ancient Shu Road paths: the Jinniu Road, Micang Road, Yinping Road, and Lizhi Road. Micang Avenue serves as the core backbone of the "Micang Gallery" scenic route.

Pujiahe Bridge

As a vital component of the "fast access, slow travel" network, Micang Avenue is more than just a road; it is a dynamic landscape network. Once fully opened, it will facilitate travel for over 200,000 residents along the route and accelerate the formation of a major tourism loop in northeastern Sichuan. With the expedited construction of the Greater Shu Road Transport-Tourism Integration Demonstration Zone, the highway will also feature distinctive rest stations, viewing platforms, and homestay clusters, turning the journey itself into a scenic experience.

【本文部分内容由AI辅助生成，特此声明。The author(s) generated part of the content in this work with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), which is hereby declared.】