The first expressway linking Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Vietnam will open to traffic next year, local authorities said Sunday.

The 600-kilometer journey from Kunming, provincial capital of Yunnan, to Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, will be reduced to six to seven hours from 12-plus hours, according to the provincial transport department of Yunnan.

The expressway from Kunming to Hekou, which borders Vietnam, has been basically finished. China and Vietnam will be connected by expressway once construction on a 250-kilometer expressway is finished in Vietnam, and linking the countries via expressway will greatly reduce transportation costs and boost the regional economy.

The expressway from the Chinese border to Hanoi is expected to be finished by 2013.

Another section of road from Hanoi to Hai Phong, Vietnam's northeastern port city, will be finished by 2015, which will make it possible for people to travel from Kunming to the Beibu Bay from morning to evening.

China and Vietnam started upgrading local expressways and roads to connect the cross-border expressway in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

The expressway is part of Yunnan's Bridgehead Strategy, which aims to build a social and economic corridor toward South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Three other cross-border highways leading to Thailand, Myanmar and India are also under construction.