The interaction between urban transport, land cover change and the distribution of population is a typical manifestation of the urbanization process. As high-grade road, expressway plays a significant role in promoting resource circulation and economic development. Based on the road distribution, land cover and population census data, this study specifically probed the relationship between the expressways and the land cover and population of Beijing. The results show that: (1) as the distance from an expressway increases, the amount of built-up land gradually decreased, and the transfer of land cover near the expressway was more intensive and frequent when compared with that of the whole city; (2) In 2010, a district that was less than 3 km from both sides of the expressway and which occupies one-quarter of the entire city had concentrations of 42% industrial land, 58% of settlement land, and 76% transportation land of the entire city; (3) As for Beijing, the population density was positively correlated to road density, and population density declined with a corresponding increase in buffer distance; (4) The ring area between the Fifth and the Sixth Ring Road featured the greatest density of expressways and the most dramatic changes in both land cover and population. According to our study, there's a positive interactive feedback relationship between the expressways, land cover and population of Beijing. Also, due to the concentration of population, industry and transport system around the expressways, special attention should be paid to environmental pollution and the inhabitants' health in this area. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).