Transforming transport - and the countryside

Anji in Zhejiang province makes its roadways scenic, Zhang Zhao reports.

In the Anji section of Zhejiang's No 306 Provincial Highway, greenbelts in the shapes of triangle or circles hold bamboo, shrubbery, rocks, azaleas and sunflowers, creating a rainbow of green, yellow and red.

Long known as a "town of bamboo" with villages scattered among forests of bamboo, Anji county has integrated transportation into local sightseeing spots through the efforts of local authorities.

It is part of a roadway regulation and beautification project that began in 2013.

At the Lingfeng Mountain tourism and resort site, a main sightseeing road has colorful greenbelt and multicolored roundabouts. Many other roads in the area have followed suit.

"Roads at tourism sites are not just a means of transportation," said Shen Zhenhua, an official from the site's planning department. "They should also have leisure functions."

A maze was also planted last year along the main road to "enhance interactivity with travelers", he said.

The business environment along roads and highways has also been improved to attract tourists. Jianshan village has been a renowned pear-growing center since the 1960s, but unlicensed roadside fruit vendors were always a challenge for the local road authority in July and August when pears ripen.

"We had to organize joint regulation campaigns against this illegal business every year," said Chen Weizhong, deputy director of the county's road and highway administration."You send them away today, but they come onto the road again tomorrow."

But this year the situation was no more as the transportation administration and village committees invested around 200,000 yuan ($32,214) to build a 1,200-square-meter market at an abandoned bamboo garden for well-ordered fruit stalls.

As well, by the end of 2013, sanitation workers had cleared more than 11,000 cubic meters of garbage from the road and highway areas in the county, and cleared more than 300 km of barriers. More than 50 heavily polluting facilities were removed from roadside areas.

Local residents are also involved in the road environment improvement project.

In August 2013, the county government launched a campaign to collect designs for trashcans along the roads.

Different designs were required for provincial highways, and county and village-level roads. The top six designs were unveiled the following month, each with distinct features. When the new trashcans with the award winning designs are put to use, they themselves will become part of the scenery, said local officials.

Contact the writer at zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/23/2015 page10)