Blocked roads to reopen

By XU FAN (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-11 09:17

An aerial view of Wenxueguan Road, which is severed by the Beijing-Chengde highway. The municipal government has vowed to tackle such roads to improve traffic this year. Wang Jing / China Daily

Blockages that cause rush-hour jams at the mouths of 54 roads will be cleared by the end of next year, Chaoyang district said.

The change will arise from a new program that will remove bottlenecks from 54 roads in the district that connect residential complexes, containing more than 100,000 people, to ring roads and other complexes, according to the Chaoyang district commission of city administration and environment.

The commission said the blockages are usually made by developers working on neighboring buildings, who escape blame due to gaps in the law regarding responsibilities for road quality.

Xu Jingjuan, section chief with the city administration office of the commission, said Monday the work would cost roughly 1 billion yuan. Three-quarters would be used for demolition purposes, with the remainder set aside for new construction.

She said the total length of the 54 roads was 28 kilometers, and predicted that as many as 34 of these roads would be accessible by the end of the year.

The commission said it could not comment on whether residences would be demolished in the project, or proposed rates of compensation if they are.

Zhang Binyuan, vice-section chief with the office, told METRO that about 80 percent of the blocked roads was the fault of irresponsible developers.

"In recent months, more than 1,000 civilians have complained to us about the blockages. We located the 54 roads with the biggest traffic jams during peak times," Zhang said.

"To be honest, the actual figure of blocked roads might far exceed 54, but we have to improve the situation step by step," he said.

Chao Guiyu, 46, has lived in Shuangjing's Times International community, or "Shi Dai Guo Ji", for five years.

Chao said a 3-m-wide road, blocked by some temporary constructions between her community and the neighboring one, affects almost 20,000 residents from both communities.

"When I drive from the parking lot to the Third Ring Road, it I have to wait almost 20 minutes to travel the 200-m-long road during the rush hour," she said.

Wu Zu, 70, from the same area, is also angry about the situation.

"On the other side of the blocked entrance is a road that leads to a Carrefour supermarket. I now have to walk 20 minutes to get there, twice as far as normal," he said.

"I really hope this headache will be solved soon," he said.