The Ahe Highway is the second to cut through the Taklimakan Desert, following the Tarim Highway, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Along the highway, local farmers have pressed reeds into the sand to create large grids of grass, effectively preventing the sand from encroaching on the road. In another area are the "desert terraces," where red willows and saxaul have been planted within the grass grids.
