On October 12, the Luhongshan Tunnel, a key control project on the entire Luhongshan (Hunan-Hubei border) to Cili section of the national key project G59 Hubei-Hunan Expressway—invested in and established by China Railway Communications Investment Group and constructed with the participation of China Railway Sixth Group—achieved smooth breakthrough of its right tube after more than 800 days and nights of intensive work, marking a solid and powerful step forward toward the milestone goal of full opening of the Lu-Ci Expressway.

The Lu-Ci Expressway starts at Luhongshan at the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces and ends near Zhangjiashan west of the Cili West Interchange of the Chang-Zhang Expressway, with a total length of about 79 kilometers. The Luhongshan Tunnel is located at the starting point of this expressway, with its entrance and exit respectively in Wufeng County, Hubei Province and Shimen County, Hunan Province. It is an extra-long tunnel running through Luhongshan at the Hunan-Hubei provincial border, with a total length of 4,445 meters and a separated twin-tube structure. The tunnel has a maximum burial depth of about 670 meters, a design speed of 80 km/h, a tube width of 10.5 meters and a height of 5 meters, straight-cut portals, and two-way four-lane traffic. China Railway Sixth Group is responsible for the construction task of single-end excavation of 2,482 meters within Hunan territory.

The Lu-Ci Expressway is one of the "six vertical and seven horizontal" expressway networks built in 122 counties and urban districts of Hunan Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The Lu-Ci Expressway connects the economy at one end and people's livelihood at the other. After completion, the project will serve as a convenient tourism corridor, connecting from north to south the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the Hupingshan National Nature Reserve, and the World Natural Heritage site Zhangjiajie, and will play a tremendous role in strengthening communication and exchange between Hunan and Hubei provinces and promoting the social and economic development of northwestern Hunan.