In its quest for the 2008 Olympic Summer Games, China’s Xinhua news agency reports that Beijing plans to triple the length of its expressways within the next five years.
Municipal planners are adding another 400 kilometres of expressways to an existing network of 216 kilometres. The major part of the planned construction projects will include a 300-kilometre ring road around the city.
Other planned projects are an expressway to the Great Wall, north of the capital.
Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games Committee has said that the construction of new expressways would become a priority to ensure that the city’s infrastructure is up to the task of hosting the 2008 Games.
According to the bid committee, new rapid-transit roads will be added to the city’s transportation network, while subway and rail lines will be upgraded.
