Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway reopens after 9 days

WATCH VIDEO

Source: CCTV.com | 02-05-2008 14:06

China's principal north-south route, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, is now reopened. The highway was closed over the past week because of severe storms in central,eastern and southern China.

China''s principal north-south route, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, is now reopened. The highway was closed over the past week because of severe storms in central,eastern and southern China.

After days of hard work by over a thousand soldiers and armed police, the last 6,000 stranded vehicles had been freed by 9 o'clock on Monday morning.

Heavy equipment was used to loosen ice, which was as much as 43 centimeters thick in some places.

Police provided help all along the highway. Even provincial governors turned out -- shouting the good news to the stranded drivers that the highway was reopening.

Traffic moved slowly at first, but to move at all brought hope after days of being trapped.

Gradually, the flow of traffic increased. Authorities say about 350 cars are going north from Hunan province every hour. Southbound traffic increased from 50 to 200 vehicles per hour. The traffic flow is now back to normal.

Weng Mengyong, vice minister of Ministry of Communications, said, "The traffic of Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway and other major highways are all back to normal. But some roads in mountain areas are still partially blocked. Our goal is to clear them all before Wednesday."

But it may all be short-lived as a new wave of snow, rain and sleet is likely to hit parts of central and southern China in the coming days.

The Ministry of Communications is introducing temporary measures to deal with the coming snowfall.

Weng Mengyong said, "We first clear out some main roads in the disaster-hit provinces and their neighboring provinces. Once the snow comes, we will have drivers detour. And we will give priority to electrical repair vehicles and vehicles loaded with coal and disaster relief materials."

The Ministry says expressways are running well except for the closure of some sections in Anhui, Jiangsu and Jiangxi due to thick fog and ice. For safety reasons, some expressways in Shanghai, Guangdong, Guizhou and Fujian were also partly closed.

More than 56-million people were transported by highway on Monday, an increase of three million over the previous day.

Railway traffic has also resumed in Zhejiang, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces.

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, is now seeing its traffic peak for the first time this year.

Editor:Zhang Ning