Beijing's first ring highway opens to traffic
( 2003-11-02 10:36) (Xinhua)
The first ring highway of
Beijing, which is also the city's fifth ring road and one of major
infrastructure construction projects for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, opened to
traffic on Saturday.
Measuring 98.58 km long and 10-15 km away from the downtown, the ring highway
circled the city and linked some major stadiums for Olympic games as well as
many of the city's major communities, like Beiyuan, Wangjing and Shijingshan.
Eight expressways, such as Airport Expressway, Expressway from Beijing to
Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Expressway to the
Great Wall and Expressway from Beijing to Chengde, scenic spot in north China'
Hebei Province, also have junctures with the fifth ring highway.
The completion of the ring highway will help relieve the city's traffic
pressure and laid an infrastructure foundation for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The ring highway, with six traffic lanes and designed driving speed of 100 km
per hour, includes the construction of altogether 259 bridges and flyovers.
The construction of the ring highway was started from November 2000 and
completed at the end of October 2003. Investment for the ring highway reached
13.6 billion yuan (about 1.6 billion US dollars).
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