The highway is finished now, so from Dali to Jianchuan it only takes 1.5 hrs instead of the 3.5-hr ride through the local road. Jianchuan to Lijiang is only 40 minutes by highway, instead of 2.5 hours.
So, Kunming to Jianchuan should only take about 6 hours now, if the bus driver is willing to stay on the highway. Last I checked (Jan 25), there was no new bus ticket price for the highway, so the bus drivers wanted to take the local road through Dali—Jianchuan in order to pick up more passengers along the way to make money. If you wanted to take the highway, everyone on the bus had to agree to pay more money (like Y5-10 more per person), direct to the bus driver. But it is believed that once a 'gao kuai' ticket price is set, you can get on a bus that will definitely take the highway all the way from Jianchuan to Kunming or Jianchuan to Dali. Happy travels!!