The world’s longest motorway tunnel, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, was completed on Monday morning in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur, paving the way for the opening of a new motorway linking the southern and northern parts of the region.

The 22.13-kilometre (14-mile) tunnel, whose name “Shengli” means “victory” in Chinese, will cut vehicle travel time through the central part of the Tianshan Mountains from several hours to about 20 minutes.

The tunnel is a key project of the Urumqi-Yuele Road, which links the northern Xinjiang city of Urumqi with Yuele Prefecture in the south of the region, and is expected to be completed and open to traffic in 2025, cutting travel time between the two from nearly seven hours to just over three hours.