A City with Six Beltways
When residents of Washington, D.C., are out of town, they say they’re “out of loop.” For residents of Beijing to do the same, they have to be very specific as to which loop they’re referring to – there are six beltways that loop around their city, five in place already and one under construction.
Of the six ring roads of Beijing, all but one are what Chinese call Gaosulu, “high speed road” express highways. The one exception, First Ring Road, is actually consisted of four open-access streets that form a square enclosing an area at the center of which is the Imperial Forbidden City. Early in the 20th century, trolley cars used to run along this route, and that’s how the name Ring Road came about.
Second Ring Road is Beijing’s first beltway in the modern sense, an access-controlled freeway. This road stands on where Beijing’s city-wall used to be, and this can be seen in the fact that almost all exits on this road bear names such as Chaoyang Gate and Xizhi Gate. The first traffic bridge on Second Ring Road, the one at Jianguo Gate, was built in 1974, at a time when such structures were hardly heard of anywhere in China. In fact, Second Ring Road as an access-controlled freeway was not completed till the end of the 1980s.
But, of course, as with everything else in China, the 1990s and beyond has been a time of speedy moving forward. No sooner had Second Ring Road been completed, the need for more and larger loops in and around Beijing became evident and constructions went under way. It was in 1994 that the last traffic light on Third Ring Road was removed, and Third Ring Road became a of 48 kilometer-long express highway. Fourth Ring Road, completed in 2001, measures 65 kilometers in length, and Fifth Ring Road, finished two years later, forms a perimeter of 98 kilometers.
Construction work on Sixth Ring Road began in 2004. Once completed, this 196 kilometer-long loop will be the outmost beltway for Beijing – in the foreseeable future anyhow. The road is scheduled to open in 2007, just in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, which Beijing will host.
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