BEIJING — China will promote rural highway construction and further improve the country's rural highway network this year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Last year, the country's total investment in rural highways reached about 410 billion yuan (about $65 billion). More than 160,000 kilometers of rural roads were reconstructed, data from the ministry showed.

While stabilizing efficient investment in rural highways, the country will step up efforts to inspect and control dangers in bridges and tunnels on rural roads and rebuild over 5,000 unsafe bridges to ensure the travel safety of rural residents.

Logistic systems will be further improved to expand coverage of express services in rural regions, said the ministry.