Shortcuts target capital's congestion

All minor roads in Beijing's downtown districts will be connected to major routes within five years as part of efforts to ease traffic congestion, local authorities have said.

These truncated roads are like "blocked blood vessels" that need to be cleared, according to Zhou Zhengyu, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.

"By 2020, all truncated roads in the city will be connected," he said.

Last year Beijing's road network reached 21,800 km in length and the average road density in the capital's six downtown districts was 5 km per square km, much higher than most Chinese cities. However, traffic jams are still a regular problem, with an average of 10 million people taking the subway each day in a bid to escape the congestion.

By joining up minor roads with larger thoroughfares and expressways, the government hopes to offer drivers more alternatives and shortcuts, easing the pressure on the city's major routes.

Zhou said the districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng would be first to benefit from this type of road development.

Li Xuefeng, a taxi driver with 10 years experience, said he already did his best to avoid traffic black spots.

"Veteran drivers like me know the road network very well and can avoid heavily congested crossroads or intersections," the 35-year-old said.

"But there are more than five million privately owned cars in this city and many drivers don't know how to escape the traffic jams as well as we do - the only thing for it is to perfect the road network by getting rid of these dead ends."

He gave as an example the Fifth Ring Road, which nearly 60 percent of the capital's traffic operates inside. Many roads are simply cut off by this major artery and vehicles wanting to traverse it have to use overpasses or underpasses.

Lu Yan, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, said 50 truncated roads in the Dongcheng and Xicheng districts will be connected to other major thoroughfares this year, using 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) allocated by the municipal government.

Wang Shaofeng, head of Xicheng district government, said 290 million yuan was being spent on connecting five roads in the district, with 58 percent of this going toward demolition and land acquisition.

Li Shixiang, executive vice-mayor of Beijing, previously said nearly 70 percent of total spending would go toward demolishing office and residential buildings for road construction.

The demolition is a complicated process as it involves departments of the central government and military facilities, Li said.