Beijing starts five-month facelift of main thoroughfare

Source: Xinhua | 03-21-2009 17:16

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A five-month facelift of Beijing's main east-west artery, Chang-An Avenue, started Friday night. The project will give the thoroughfare a makeover ahead of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1.

Work will be done daily from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. to minimize traffic disruptions, said Wang Zhaorong, spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications.

The overhaul focuses on a 12-km section running from Lishilu in downtown area to Sihui flyover in the east, with the road to be re-paved. Wang added that broken pavement at Tian'anmen Square, which the avenue traverses, will be replaced

In a Friday meeting for civil administrative work in 2009, ChenYong, chief of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission, said workers will also replace lights, phone booths, trash cans, newspaper billboards, bus signs and benches on both sides of the avenue.

He said workers will also redo landscaping and whitewash exteriors of buildings along the thoroughfare. Other parts of the capital will also be beautified, he said, especially the exurban fringes.

Editor:Zhang Ning