City Announces Big Plans for Traffic, Transport Management

Beijing is looking to improve transit options this year, with the city’s Transportation Commission having introduced a 2023 traffic work plan today (Apr 19), according to local news outlet the Capital Window (首都之窗).

Along with pledging to accelerate construction on a slew of new rail and subway lines, including the first phase of the M101 Line and Beijing Subway Line 12, city planners also announced plans to open sections of two new subway lines, namely Line 16 (running from Yushuzhuang to Wanping City) and the northern section of Line 17.

Other work relating to public transit will include improving transfers at Guomao Station (Line 10 and Line 1) and Xizhimen Station (Line 13, Line 4, and Line 2), which will coincide with the capacity expansion and upgrading of Line 13, as well as work on a subway line that will reach all the way to Pinggu district in the east -- the start of a subway line that will connect to Hebei province.

The biggest news coming out of the work plan is the expansion of a number of city roads and expressways that can hopefully help alleviate bad traffic. These include Anli Road, which runs north and south to the east of Olympic Park; Beiqing Road, located in the northern part of Haidian district; Beixin’an Road, which runs north to south east of Shougang Park; and finally the Jingmi Expressway, the expansion of which is hoped to alleviate traffic pressure to and from Beijing Capital Airport.

Besides the subway work and road changes, the work plan also goes over enforcement of delivery bikes and riders – namely piloting the installation of chips on waimai and kuaidi vehicles to monitor vehicle movement, controlling the illegal modification of e-bikes, and, as we recently covered, to carry out a ban on three and four wheel lao tou le vehicles by year’s end.

READ: Beijing Moves to Ban "Elderly Scooters" from Roads

Images: Unsplash, The Beijingers, Beijing Bendibao