Recently, following its accolade as a "2025 Beautiful Highway" on May 6, the Hongze Lake Tourist Highway has achieved another milestone. Its Huai'an Grand Canal Slow Travel Cultural Route has been awarded the title of "2025 Innovative Project for Transportation and Tourism Integration," making it a benchmark example for the integration of transportation and cultural tourism across the country.

The Huai'an Grand Canal Slow Travel Cultural Route, part of the Hongze Lake Tourist Highway, perfectly integrates the millennia-old canal heritage with modern cultural tourism experiences. It spans approximately 30 kilometers, starting at the Yuehuwan Lawn Music Square in Hongze District, traversing the Hongze Lake Guyan Scenic Area, connecting to Jiangba Ancient Town, and ending at the north side of the Sanhe Sluice National Water Conservancy Scenic Area. This route is an important component of Huai'an's Grand Canal Hundred-Li Gallery project. Utilizing the embankments of Hongze Lake, the route integrates highways, ancient weirs, and the lake itself, allowing for seamless connections between slow travel (cycling and walking), water transport, and urban-rural public transportation. Every step offers picturesque views, and every journey brings surprises.

Huai'an has pioneered the concept of the "Grand Canal Slow Travel Cultural Route," actively promoting collaborative actions among cities along the Grand Canal. By establishing simple and accessible slow travel routes, it enhances the spatial form of the Grand Canal cultural corridor while catering to the public's needs for cycling and hiking leisure. This initiative creates convenient paths for experiencing the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, realizing the beautiful vision of "slowly traversing the canal for six thousand li, savoring five thousand years of Chinese civilization."