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Badaling Great Wall traffic control plan brings public doubt

By Zhao Yanrong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-18 07:56

All 17 designated parking zones serving the Badaling Great Wall will be closed from Oct 1 this year with a limit placed on all private vehicles moving within a set distance from the site.

The Badaling Great Wall administration office said they will build a single car park - a 125,000 sq m "core space". From it, 40 eco-tour buses have the exclusive right to ferry passengers to the wall.

"We hope it can solve the threat to visitors and historical relics from excessive vehicles in the area", Zhao Jianjun, director of the office, was quoted by the Beijing Morning Post as saying.

Zhao said heavy vehicles over eight tons and agricultural vehicles are not allowed on the Badaling highway, built in 2001 as the only road to connect inner and outer sides of the Great Wall. He added that despite this rule, private vehicle exhaust causes enormous damage to the historic site.

"Through this proposed change in traffic policy, we want to ensure that tourists can come and leave whenever they want," he said.

However Wang Zhenxi, a veteran driver who regularly takes guests to the Badaling site, thinks the parking area is already sufficient and traffic is not a problem. "It sounds like perhaps authorities want to make some extra cash," Wang said.

With the plans from the administration not set in stone, some tourists have voiced concerns that the change might cost them more.

"I hope it won't cost me more than 5 yuan for a return trip on those buses," Li Chen, a 25-year-old white collar worker told METRO yesterday.

Cui Xiaohuo contributed to the story