Playing an important role in supporting regional development, transportation is a fundamental and vital service industry for the national economy. At a press conference on Wednesday (May 10) ,Li Zhiqiang (Deputy Director of the Hainan Province Department of Transport) revealed that—during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period—his department intends, on the basis of the "311" general plan, to accelerate the development of the province's transportation network, and will strive to achieve 3-hour access for the whole island by 2025 with 1-hour access for points within the “three economic poles” (the Greater Haikou Metropolitan Area, the Greater Sanya Metropolitan Area, and Danzhou-Yangpu).

The "311" general plan is so-called because it refers to "three poles", "one belt", and "one area". As noted above the "three economic poles" are the Greater Haikou Metropolitan Area (i.e. Haikou, Chengmai, Wenchang), the Greater Sanya Metropolitan Area (i.e. Sanya, Lingshui, and Ledong), and Danzhou-Yangpu. In terms of supporting high-quality development, the first task is to fully support the expansion and strengthening of exurban Haikou's foundational infrastructure and to accelerate the development of comprehensive transportation hubs for ports and airports. The second task shall be lending support to the optimization and refinement of exurban Sanya, building an integrated transportation network for Greater Sanya, and helping complete the Sanya International Cruise Port. The third task will then be developing the Danzhou-Yangpu area, upgrading the facilities and infrastructure in the region, leveling up Yangpu Port's capacity as an international seaport hub, and building a rapid transportation network around Xinying Bay.

In terms of creating three intra-city transportation networks, the island province's first task shall be to push forward the construction of a so-called "fast network". In layman's terms, this means that—by 2025—Hainan will not only have begun the much-publicized high-quality independent customs operation of the Free Trade Port but will also have achieved high quality and highly interconnected local transportation network featuring 1,500km of expressways. While work on the first task is underway, work on the second task (upgrading of the "arterial network") will begin. Again, rephrasing things in layman's terms, means that more than 80% of the province's main roads will have been rebuilt or repaved to a Chinese Grade II standard or higher. Just as point-to-point transit between major areas is important, so too is local coverage; for the third task, the Department of Transport will continue to promote projects such as scenic highways (i.e. the Coastal Tourism Road, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Roads, and Xinying Bay Road) and the upgrade of rural roads to no less than Chinese Grade IV standard.

In terms of building an integrated transportation system, Hainan will improve the quality of integrated passenger transport services, build efficient integrated passenger transport hub systems (such as the Haikou Xinhai Port Passenger Transport Hub, Sanya Yalong Bay Integrated Passenger Transport Hub, and Haikou Meilan International Airport projects), promote a modern logistics industry which reduces costs and increases efficiency, establish intensive and efficient logistics base systems, and build a logistics hub collection and distribution system.