An expressway project to ease traffic congestion on a section of the Beijing-Tibet expressway has been given the green light.

The proposed 217 km-long six-lane new expressway will link the national capital of Beijing with Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, said the Inner Mongolia Expressway Construction Development Co. Ltd on Wednesday.

The company said the expressway will be part of the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway, which is to link Beijing with Urumqi, capital of northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, by 2013.

The expressway project is expected to ease traffic pressure on the Inner Mongolia section of Beijing-Tibet Expressway, which last year saw coal trucks piled up along it for days. A 120-km stretch of the expressway was gridlocked, attracting worldwide media attention.

Chinese authorities started in October last year to expand the existing section of Beijing-Tibet Expressway in Inner Mongolia from four to eight lanes.