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Beijing to revise traffic routes for upcoming Spring Festival
(CRI)
Updated: 2007-02-09 14:31
Beijing will make adjustments to the traffic system during the Spring Festival period, to cope with possible traffic jams.
The Beijing News reports that adjustments are being made to prepare for the huge crowds of people streaming to temple fairs, a favorite outing for Beijing residents during the Lunar New Year.
Beijing Traffic Management Bureau says that, starting from February 18th, the first day of the Chinese lunar New Year, four streets around the Lama Temple fair, Honglou temple fair, Changdian temple fair, and Baiyunguan temple fair will be placed under special control. In addition, the stream of people around another five temple fairs in the city will also be subject to rerouting.
The fairs feature the sales of traditional paintings and calligraphic works, antiques and local snacks, with entertainment provided in the form of acrobatics, conjuring and operas. But the fairs have traditionally also caused traffic strains, with such a heavy flow of people. The newspaper reports that more than 4 million people visited eight temple fairs during last year's Spring Festival holiday.
To facilitate people's visits to the temple fairs, extra parking lots will set up. Longtan temple fair will have ten extra parking lots, to allow 1,200 automobiles to park at the same time. And eight parking places will be set up at Ditan temple fair for the parking of 700 automobiles.
Adjustment will also be made in the public transport system. According to the bureau, an average of 3,500 traffic police will be dispatched to direct the flow of people. Twelve bus routes will be diverted during the week-long holiday, and some stops will be canceled.
The administration said more than 1,300 subway trains will run across the city each day to ease the pressure born by the ground transportation during the holiday.
It is estimated that Beijing traffic will carry a total of 850 million people during this year's Spring Festival alone.
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