Cities must speed up efforts to address traffic congestion

Heavy traffic at a highway toll station in Beijing last October. Local authorities are considering easing traffic problems through economic measures. Fu Ding / For China Daily

ON TUESDAY, the China Academy of Transportation Sciences, affiliated to the Ministry of Transport, published a report on the results of its research with other institutions into the urban traffic situation, which listed the cities with the heaviest traffic jams in 2016. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

While big cities have many advantages and are good places to live, they have some problems as well. One of these is the traffic congestion. Truly people can afford better cars in cities because their wages are higher, but they need to spend more time getting home after work because of the heavier traffic. Traffic jams make people unhappy and seriously downgrade the life quality in municipalities.

That's why the report is welcome. It not only ranked the cities that suffer from the heaviest traffic, it also analyzed the various causes of their traffic congestion.

For example, Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, suffers from the worst traffic jams according to the report, even though its population is only one-third that of Beijing, and the number of its automobiles is also much smaller. Harbin, which ranked the second on the list, is also smaller than Beijing, which is the third. Why?

The report gives an answer: Because Jinan is constructing large numbers of streets, roads, and subways, all of which cause disruption. The Jinan municipal government expects the traffic flow in the city to become much smoother after the work is finished, but currently the problem is very serious and that needs a solution.

The report also shows that the congestion in second-tier cities such as Chongqing and Changchun is increasing. That warns us about where the future risks lie.

The research has been absolutely necessary and we hope all cities learn something from the report and will work hard to solve the problem of traffic jams.