The Shanghai government announced Tuesday it will invest 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) over the next seven years on a series of new roads, many of which are already under construction.
The plan aims to develop a local road network that is 3,600 kilometers long, and can ensure commuters travel from any part of the city to any downtown location, in either Pudong or Puxi, within 45 minutes.
The announcement is just the latest in a series of moves to clear up traffic congestion in the city, particularly on bridges and tunnels that cross the Huangpu River.
Within seven years, the city's traffic capacity will increase by 60 percent from its current level, vowed Jin Jiamuo, a spokesperson for the Shanghai Engineering Administrative Bureau.
The 3,600-kilometer-network will include 300 kilometers of elevated ring roads at its core. As announced earlier, the city is planning to have a third ring road between the existing inner and outer ring roads by 2007.
"Though the past decade saw the addition of two ring roads and other thorough-fares, the city's overall road network has not been soundly created," said Gu Weihua, chief of the bureau's development planning department.
Later this year, the western and northern extensions of the Middle Ring Road will open to traffic, five new on and off ramps will be added to the Inner Ring Road, and a dozen local roads and elevated highways will be widened. Three new connections across the Huangpu River will also be completed by the end of 2003 - the Lupu Bridge, the Outer-Ring Tunnel, and the Dalian Road Tunnel.
(eastday.com January 8, 2003)
