According to the transport authorities in Hubei province, the Yichang-Wuhan Expressway has been renamed Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway as of 1 June. This is part of a nationwide campaign to standardise names, signs and codes on the national network.

The 2,500km Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway, of which the Yichang-Wuhan section is a part, will be coded as G50 on the national network. The Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway, also known as the Riverside Expressway, will pass through Nanjing, Hefei, Wuhan, Yichang and Wanzhou before reaching Chongqing. While most of the line has already been built, the 560km section between Yichang and Wanzhou is a bottleneck with poor quality road conditions. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by end of 2010.