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.
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 80km/h. 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 is a beltway, while the Middle Ring Road, once fully constructed, will also be a beltway.
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 (a Chinese abbreviation for Shanghai) shape. The Middle Ring forms a second orbital surrounding the Inner Ring Elevated Road, but is not yet fully complete.
| English name | Chinese characters name | Termini | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner Ring Road Also known as Inner Ring Elevated Road | Ring road | 47.7km (29.6miles) long. Crosses the Huangpu River using the Yangpu Bridge and Nanpu Bridge. | ||
| Middle Ring Road | Jinqiao Road and Pudong Avenue, Pudong Middle Huaxia Road, Shenjiang Road, and Huaxia Elevated Road, Pudong | Sections of Middle Ring Road are still under construction. Its length so far is 59.25km (36.82miles). When complete, it will become a ring road. Crosses the Huangpu River using the Jungong Road Tunnel and Shangzhong Road Tunnel. | ||
| North–South Elevated Road | (lit. South–North Elevated Road) | Pujiang Town | 18.1km (11.2miles) long. | |
| Yan'an Elevated Road | Hongqiao International Airport The Bund, Bund Tunnel, East Zhongshan No. 1 Road | 15km (09miles) long. |
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 | Jiamin Elevated Road Middle Ring Road | 7.3km (04.5miles) long. Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | |||
| Beiheng Passageway | Middle Ring Road & Beidi Elevated Road junctionHaining Road & North Zhejiang Road | Eastern underground section under construction, to be extended to Yangpu District | |||
| Bund Tunnel | Speed limit of 40kph. | ||||
| Dujiaqu Elevated Road | Middle Ring Road, Disney Shanghai | Formerly known as Shenjiang Elevated Road. | |||
| Hongdi Elevated Road | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | ||||
| Hongmei Elevated Road | Middle Ring Road at West Shangzhong Road South Hongmei Road Tunnel | 10.4km (06.5miles) long. | |||
| Hongyu Elevated Road | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | ||||
| Huaxia Elevated Road | Middle Ring Road at Shenjiang Road S1 Yingbin Expressway near Pudong International Airport | 15.6km (09.7miles) long. | |||
| Humin Elevated Road | Inner Ring Road | 13.32km (08.28miles) long. | |||
| Husong Elevated Road | In planning. | ||||
| Jiamin Elevated Road | , | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | |||
| Jianhong Elevated Road | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | ||||
| Luoshan Elevated Road | Inner Ring Road at Luoshan Road/Longyang Road/Longdong Avenue, | ||||
| Songze Elevated Road | Jiamin Elevated Road | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. | |||
| Wuzhou Avenue | Xiangyin Road Tunnel | 7km (04miles) long. | |||
| Yixian Elevated Road | Inner Ring Road | 9.5km (05.9miles) long. | |||
| Caobao Elevated Road | Part of the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub. Under planning. | ||||
| Longdong Elevated Road | Inner Ring Road at Luoshan Road/Longyang Road/Longdong Avenue, |
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 (beginning with the letter G), 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 | in Pudong New Area at Pudong International Airport | 18.5km (11.5miles) long. | ||
| S2 | A2 | Shanghai–Luchaogang Expressway | in Pudong New Area Yangshan Port, Zhoushan, Zhejiang | 74.8km (46.5miles) long including the Donghai Bridge. | ||
| S3 | A3 | Shanghai–Fengxian Expressway | Zhoudeng Highway | Extension to Fengxian District has been finished recently. | ||
| S4 | A4 | Shanghai–Jinshan Expressway | / Humin Elevated Road in Minhang District in Jinshan District | |||
| S5 | A12 | Shanghai–Jiading Expressway | Middle Ring Road Yecheng Road / South Bo'le Road in Jiading District | 20.5km (12.7miles) long. | ||
| S6 | A17 | Shanghai–Nanxiang Expressway | in Jiading District in Baoshan District | 9.4km (05.8miles) long. | ||
| S7 | A13 | Shanghai–Chongming Expressway | In planning, partly under construction. | |||
| S12 | Never assigned | Chongming–Haimen Expressway | In planning. | |||
| S16 | Never assigned | Shanghai–Yixing Expressway | In planning. | |||
| S19 | A6 | Xinnong–Jinshanwei Expressway | in Xinnong, Jinshan District in Jinshanwei, Jinshan District | |||
| S20 | A20 | Outer Ring Expressway | Ring road | 99km (62miles) 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 | In planning. | |||
| S26 | A16 | Shanghai–Changzhou Expressway | in Qingpu District Continues as at the Jiangsu border | |||
| S32 | A15 | Shanghai–Jiaxing–Huzhou Expressway | at Pudong International Airport Continues as at the Zhejiang border | |||
| S36 | A7 | Tinglin–Fengjing Expressway | in Jinshan District in Jiashan County, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, just outside Fengjing, Jinshan District | |||
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.
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.