Abstract: There is no accurate monitoring and evaluation for current accessibility states of the transportation infrastructure in the Yangtze River economic zone. By referring the results of the frst national geographic census in 2015, the monitoring results of basic national geographical state in 2016, and the related socio-economic data, this paper proposes a method for monitoring the accessibility of trafc network in the Yangtze River economic zone. The changes of transportation network accessibility within the Yangtze River economic zone from 2015 to 2016 are analyzed with this method. The study results indicate that the accessibility level of the core transportation network in the Yangtze River economic zone is consistent with the economic level of the cities of the zone. Moreover, the accessibility of the core transportation network has gradually spread from the original capital cities to peripheral cities, accordingly, peripheral cities can develop to a better level of accessibility through their own advantages. Each peripheral area with good accessibility can serve as a central point and gradually become a core area.

Key words: the Yangtze River economic zone, trafc network, accessibility, variation analysis