LHASA - Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region will invest heavily in constructing rural highways to provide road transportation to remote villages, local authorities said.

A total investment of 3.11 billion yuan ($494.2 million) will be made, and 13,385 kilometers of rural highways will be built in three years, according to a statement issued by the regional department of transportation.

The extended network will end the state of seclusion in 669 villages by linking them with highways, the statement said.

Heavy investment in Tibet's infrastructure has expanded the region's network of highways to cover about 90 percent of villages as of 2011, but officials said 714 Tibetan villages still lacked access to road transport.