Beijing will rope off 264 km of traffic lanes in late July so that vehicles carrying athletes and other figures connected to the Olympic Games can move freely through the city and from venue to venue, The Beijing News reported this week.
Vehicles will be able to travel at least 60 kph on these lanes, it said.
They will operate around-the-clock for 63 days from July 25 to Sept 25. This covers the period starting 14 days before the Beijing Games opening ceremony and ends eight days after the closing ceremony of the follow-on Paralympic Games.
The lanes will be on Beijing's Second, Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads, and some freeways connecting Beijing to the popular Badaling section of the Great Wall, the Capital International Airport, and Chengde, a summer resort in neighboring Hebei Province.
Bearing the colorful logo of the Olympic rings, all the designated lanes lead to Olympic venues, athletes' residential areas and Olympic reception hotels.
Separating Olympic officials from others on the road is an effective way of overcoming the city's chronic congestion, as was the case at previous Games in Sydney and Athens, said Liu Jingmin, vice-mayor of Beijing and also executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG).
"The average vehicle speed of Olympic lanes will be no less than 60 kph during the Beijing Games. This compares to 20 kph for ordinary roads and 35 kph for urban expressways," Xue Jiangdong, commissioner of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, said at the Beijng Transport Information-Service Forum on Monday.
"During the Games, Beijing residents and tourists can access real-time traffic information six ways - on their mobile phones, on the radio and TV, via GPS devices inside their vehicles, and through roadside traffic information screens.
"Alternatively, they can log on to the center's website, or call its service hotline," said Wang Gang, director of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Information Center.
(China Daily, The Olympian April 26, 2008))