CHENGDU - A new expressway linking Wenchuan county and Yingxiu township, the epicenter of a devastating earthquake in 2008 in southwest China's Sichuan province, opened to traffic on Thursday afternoon.

The 48.27-km Yingwen Expressway, which began to be built in May, 2009, costs nearly 5 billion yuan ($802 million).

The expressway is built to improve the transportation capacity in the quake-affected areas.

It will play an important role in post-quake restoration and reconstruction, as the "lifeline" Duwen (Dujiangyan-Wenchuan) Expressway was damaged by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, and has been closed to traffic after several aftershocks in the following years, said the provincial transportation department.

The new road will help reduce the travel time by car from Wenchuan to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, to an hour and a half from three hours.