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First part of Middle Ring Road set to go
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2005-01-31 09:34 The first section of the
Middle Ring Road will open to the public at 8 o'clock tonight.
But
because of relocation and construction delays, the overall project is unlikely
to be completed by the 2007 target.
The first section, 9.42 kilometers of
elevated road, will link the Dabaishu area in Hongkou District, via Zhabei
District, to reach the entrance to Hujia Expressway C, which connects the
downtown with Jiading District in the northwest.
Unlike the existing
elevated roads, the new section has curved design along the edges and more green
arrangements below, which engineers say are to make pedestrians "less
depressed."
The section has three exits and three entrances for
ground-level traffic.
It also includes three cloverleaf conjunctions with
other elevated roads.
It is 30 meters above ground at its highest
point.
Construction managers said 80,000 workers built the section in six
months.
The Middle Ring Road project, between the existing inner and outer
ring roads, aims to ease traffic in downtown Shanghai.
The 70-kilometer
project, including several underground sections, will eventually link dozens of
roads to encircle downtown Pudong and downtown Puxi.
About 38 kilometers
of the project will be in Puxi.
Two tunnels will be built to link the
Pudong and Puxi parts of the project across the Huangpu River.
Wang
Suzhong, general manager of the Shanghai Middle Ring Road Construction and
Development Company, said on Saturday the Middle Ring Road will definitely be
completed by 2010 when the World Expo is held.
He said the project
involved relocating about 6,000 families.
But about 1,000 families
haven't yet moved, particularly in the southern part of the city.
Wang
also said one of the tunnels won'tt be ready before 2007.
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