Taiyuan's task to be modern metro area

Shanxi capital makes housing, road and rail improvements

Taiyuan is coming nearer to its goal to become a first-class provincial capital as a wave of projects bring sweeping changes to the city in North China's Shanxi province.

A highlight is work on a 45-kilometer intermediate ring road begun in March that will be open to traffic this year. It will help ease traffic congestion in the 2,500-year-old city as the population continues to surge, said a local official.