Expressways of Shanghai

Shanghai has an expansive grade-separated highway and expressway network consisting of 16 municipal express roads, 10 provincial-level expressways, and 8 national-level expressways. Three municipal expressways and four provincial-level expressways are also under construction.

Municipal express roads

Most municipal express roads are found in the inner districts of Shanghai, including several elevated highways which run directly above surface-level roadways. In Chinese, these expressways are literally termed city high-speed roadways, and their maximum speed is typically. These are still considered expressways or controlled-access highways because of the presence of ramps, grade-separated junctions, and the absence of traffic lights. Most of these expressways are elevated and run above a lower-speed roadway. The Inner [Ring Road (Shanghai)|Inner Ring Road] is a beltway, while the Middle Ring Road, is also a beltway.

Primary express roads

These are primary express roads that form a major backbone of expressways within the city core. Of these four, the Inner Ring, North–South, and Yan'an Elevated Roads form a 申 shape. The Middle Ring forms a second orbital surrounding the Inner Ring Elevated Road, and is fully complete. The 申 shape was originally partial until the recent completion of the Pudong Avenue Ground Way.

English name	Chinese characters name	Termini	Notes
Inner Ring Road Also known as Inner Ring Elevated Road	labels=no labels=no	Ring road	long. Crosses the Huangpu River using the Yangpu Bridge and Nanpu Bridge.
Middle Ring Road	labels=no	Ring road	long. Crosses the Huangpu River using the Jungong Road Tunnel and Shangzhong Road Tunnel.
North–South Elevated Road	labels=no	Pujiang Town	long.
Yan'an Elevated Road	labels=no	Hongqiao International Airport The Bund, Bund Tunnel, East Zhongshan No. 1 Road	long.

Auxiliary express roads

These are other express roads that serve as part of the municipal expressway network. Of these, six belong to the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub, a network of municipal expressways serving Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

English name	Chinese characters name	Termini	Notes
Beidi Elevated Road	labels=no	Jiamin Elevated Road Middle Ring Road	long. Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Beiheng Passageway	labels=no	Middle Ring Road & Beidi Elevated Road junction Haining Road & North Zhejiang Road	Eastern underground section under construction, to be extended to Yangpu District
Bund Tunnel	labels=no		Speed limit of.
Dujiaqu Elevated Road	labels=no	Middle Ring Road, Disney Shanghai	Formerly known as Shenjiang Elevated Road.
Hongdi Elevated Road	labels=no		Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Hongmei Elevated Road	labels=no	Middle Ring Road at West Shangzhong Road South Hongmei Road Tunnel	long.
Hongyu Elevated Road	labels=no		Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Huaxia Elevated Road	labels=no	Middle Ring Road at Shenjiang Road S1 Yingbin Expressway near Pudong International Airport	long.
Humin Elevated Road	labels=no	Inner Ring Road	long.
Husong Elevated Road	labels=no		In planning.
Jiamin Elevated Road	labels=no	,	Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Jianhong Elevated Road	labels=no		Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Luoshan Elevated Road	labels=no		Inner Ring Road at Luoshan Road/Longyang Road/Longdong Avenue,
Songze Elevated Road	labels=no	Jiamin Elevated Road	Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub.
Wuzhou Avenue	labels=no	Xiangyin Road Tunnel	long.
Yixian Elevated Road	labels=no	Inner Ring Road	long.
Caobao Elevated Road	labels=no		Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. Under planning.
Longdong Elevated Road	labels=no	Inner Ring Road at Luoshan Road/Longyang Road/Longdong Avenue,

Restrictions on Driving

In Shanghai, there are restrictions on foreign license plates, temporary license plates, drivers with probationary licenses, and taxis not carrying passengers to drive on many municipal elevated roads. This ban is enforced by the police, and affects every day except Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays. They came into effect on November 2020.
The affected expressways include:

1. Municipal freeways, from 7:00 to 20:00 daily

Yan'an Elevated Road
North-South Elevated Road
Yixian Elevated Road
Shanghai-Minhang Elevated Road
Middle Ring Road
Huaxia Elevated Road
Luoshan Elevated
Dujia Elevated Road
Inner Ring Elevated Road
Longdong Elevated Road
Hongmei Elevated Road
Beidi Road Tunnel
Yan'an East Tunnel
Beiheng Passageway.

2. Inner Ring, 7:00 to 9:00 and 17:00 to 19:00

Furthermore, there is a prohibition affecting the same categories, within any point inside the Inner Ring Elevated Road and the roads it is with.

Provincial expressways

Designations for provincial-level and federal-level expressways in Shanghai had the letter prefix A before the number of the expressway. Starting at the Yingbin Expressway, which was designated the number 1, the numbers increased clockwise around the city. For ring expressways, the designations A20, A30, A40, etc., were used. For expressways connecting to other provinces which already had national designations, designations with the letter A were attached.
In August 2009, Shanghai replaced its system of naming expressways with the prefix A with the letter prefix S, in order to conform to the standard designations for provincial-level highways within China. The S means Shengdao, or provincial-level roads. The letter prefix A was abolished.

Signpost	Designation	Former designation	English name	Chinese characters name	Termini	Notes
	S1	A1	Yingbin Expressway	labels=no	in Pudong New Area at Pudong International Airport	long.
	S2	A2	Shanghai–Luchaogang Expressway	labels=no	in Pudong New Area Yangshan Port, Zhoushan, Zhejiang	long including the Donghai Bridge.
	S3	A3	Shanghai–Fengxian Expressway	labels=no	Zhoudeng Highway	Extension to Fengxian District has been finished recently.
	S4	A4	Shanghai–Jinshan Expressway	labels=no	/ Humin Elevated Road in Minhang District in Jinshan District
	S5	A12	Shanghai–Jiading Expressway	labels=no	Middle Ring Road Yecheng Road / South Bo'le Road in Jiading District	long.
	S6	A17	Shanghai–Nanxiang Expressway	labels=no	in Jiading District in Baoshan District	long.
	S7	A13	Shanghai–Chongming Expressway	labels=no		In planning, partly under construction.
	S12	Never assigned	Chongming–Haimen Expressway	labels=no		In planning.
	S16	Never assigned	Shanghai–Yixing Expressway	labels=no		In planning.
	S19	A6	Xinnong–Jinshanwei Expressway	labels=no	in Xinnong, Jinshan District in Jinshanwei, Jinshan District
	S20	A20	Outer Ring Expressway	labels=no	Ring road	long. Crosses the Huangpu River twice, using the Xupu Bridge to the south and the Outer Ring Tunnel to the north. It is the third in a series of four ring roads around the city of Shanghai.
	S22	Never assigned	Jiading–Anting Expressway	labels=no		In planning.
	S26	A16	Shanghai–Changzhou Expressway	labels=no	in Qingpu District Continues as at the Jiangsu border
	S32	A15	Shanghai–Jiaxing–Huzhou Expressway	labels=no	at Pudong International Airport Continues as at the Zhejiang border
	S36	A7	Tinglin–Fengjing Expressway	labels=no	in Jinshan District in Jiashan County, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, just outside Fengjing, Jinshan District

National expressways

National highways and expressways in Shanghai both have the prefix G, an abbreviation for Guodao, which literally means National roads. It is important to note that both grade-separated, controlled-access expressways and normal at-grade highways both have the prefix G. Only the national-level expressways are mentioned here. National-highways which are at grade and not controlled-access are also found in Shanghai, and these include G204, G312, G318, and G320. Expressways also have green-coloured signs while their highway counterparts have red-coloured signs.

Designation	Former Shanghai A designation	English name	Chinese characters name	Termini in Shanghai	Continues towards	Notes
	A11	Beijing–Shanghai Expressway	labels=no	Middle Ring Road Jiangsu border	Beijing	G2 Beijing–Shanghai Expressway and G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway are concurrencies for their entire length in Shanghai.
	A11	Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway	labels=no	Middle Ring Road Jiangsu border	Chengdu	G2 Beijing–Shanghai Expressway and G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway are concurrencies for their entire length in Shanghai.
	A4, A5	Shenyang–Haikou Expressway	labels=no	Jiangsu border Zhejiang border	Shenyang Haikou
	A14	Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway	labels=no	Jiangsu border	Xi'an
	A9	Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway	labels=no	S20 [Outer Ring Expressway (Shanghai)\|S20 Outer Ring Expressway] and Yan'an Elevated Road Jiangsu border	Chongqing
	A8	Shanghai–Kunming Expressway	labels=no	S20 Outer Ring Expressway, S4 Shanghai–Jinshan Expressway, and Humin Elevated Road Zhejiang border	Kunming	G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway and G92 Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway are concurrencies from Dagang Interchange of G1503 Shanghai Ring Expressway to Zhejiang border.
	A8	G92 Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway	labels=no	G1503 Shanghai Ring Expressway Zhejiang border	Ningbo	G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway and G92 Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway are concurrencies from Dagang Interchange of G1503 Shanghai Ring Expressway to Zhejiang border.
	A30	Shanghai Ring Expressway	labels=no	Ring road almost entirely within Shanghai.	Ring road
	Never assigned	Shanghai–Wuhan Expressway	labels=no		Alternate road

Yangtze River fixed crossing

Shanghai has one bridge-tunnel crossing spanning the Yangtze Delta to the north of the city. The G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway follows the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel from Pudong to Changxing Island, and then over the Shanghai Yangtze River Bridge from Changxing to Chongming Island and finally via the Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge from Chongming to Qidong in Jiangsu Province on the north bank of the river. A second fixed crossing is planned to the west of this bridge, and will become part of the S7 Shanghai–Chongming Expressway.