The booming of diesel engines emanates for miles as construction trucks on a distant highway haul building materials to modernize western China. On the narrow Highway 312, these freight trucks come to a standstill as a traffic jam creates the first of many temporary halts, adding endless hours to a driver's daily grind.

 

In the distance, power lines stretching from the dry earth to the lush mountaintops taint the view of high peaks and vegetation.

 

Welcome to the fabled Silk Road.

 

The Silk Road, stretching over 4,000 miles, has served to transport goods to and from the West for over 2,000 years. While truck drivers still traverse this section of the ancient road, it's become a symbol of China's uneven development. Outdated dirt roads don't hold up to the modern vehicles and traffic volume.

 

The government has taken action to update this route. A new highway that runs parallel will be completed at the end of this year, said Tian Young, a 34-year-old truck driver from Huan Province.

 

Young, dressed in a red and black striped button-down shirt, transports machinery to help build houses and factories in western China. "I am very proud of it," he says.

 

Because of the continuous traffic on this road, drivers pack noodles and other snacks to prepare for the long haul, Young says. During the peak hours of traffic between late afternoon and early evening, peddlers mill about selling food and drinks.

 

"If I forget to bring food, I buy it on the street," Young says.

 

With no sign of traffic picking up, Young and his fellow travellers get out of their vehicles and amble down the street.

 

Throughout the evening, they look west for signs that the traffic is easing up.

 

A quarter of a mile ahead, inside a tunnel, Chen Qin Qing stands beneath orange lights, speaking to her husband as he sits in a blue truck used for transporting building goods. Together, they too are involved with the development of the West.

 

Qing, from Shanxi province, said that the trip to Gansu province normally takes 10 hours. Because of difficult driving conditions like narrow roads and hairpin turns, the tiresome journey can result in accidents and up to 12-hour delays, Qing says.

 

This puts the lives of drivers at risk and a snag in the road to the modernization of western China.