Construction on the much-anticipated Shenzhen section of the second expressway connecting Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan started Sept. 29.

The 88-kilometer-long new expressway, with a speed limit of 100 kilometers, is expected to reduce traffic jams on the existing Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway and National Highway 107. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

The Shenzhen section, including 20 flyovers, runs along the city's western coast and ends at the Western Corridor in Nanshan District.

Drivers heading to Shenzhen's airport, Shajing, Fuyong and Xixiang in Bao'an District can use the 31.58-kilometer-long Shenzhen section of the new expressway. The new expressway's exits will also connect to Nanping and Jihe expressways.

Construction on the expressway's Guangzhou and Dongguan sections started last year.

Meanwhile, a three-month maintenance project on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen expressway will start today. Drivers traveling from Guangzhou to Dongguan or Shenzhen need to take detours until the project is finished in January. However, vehicles heading from Shenzhen or Dongguan to Guangzhou won't be affected.

More than 104,000 vehicles have used the expressway every day since it opened to traffic in 1995, 20 percent higher than its designed capacity.

On June 23 this year, a section of the expressway in Dongguan caved in due to heavy rainfall. Cracks in some sections also pose a threat to drivers using the expressway.