Beijing's current layout, with hundreds of government offices and businesses concentrated in the downtown area, is seen as the root cause of the city's endless traffic jams. Experts are working to improve the situation without making too many changes to the city's structure.
China Drive reporter Zhou Jing investigates.
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The Guomao Bridge on the east third ring road turns into a giant parking lot every morning during rush hours, as everyone tries to get to their downtown offices at once.
The severe congestion continues all the way west to the Jianguomen Bridge on east second ring road.
Drivers who have to commute everyday on this road have a lot to complain about. "I set off from the Beijing International Studies University near the east fifth ring road. On work days, it takes about an hour to get to Jianguomen. If there were no traffic jams, it's only a ten-minute ride."
The city-bound vehicles can hardly move, but the cars heading in the other directions fly.
The situation is reversed every afternoon as the traffic heading out of the city is gridlocked. It's a typical example of what's called the "tide phenomenon" in traffic.
You can see it happening in many roads across Beijing. "I drive on Jingshun Road everyday. Both mornings and evenings, the direction I'm driving on is pretty jammed. Actually I know lots of roads in Beijing are suffering from the same problem."
The tide phenomenon shows the roads aren't being used effectively and that the traffic jams can be eased by improving the flow of traffic.
Wang Angeng is the political advisor who came up with the solution. He explains, "To start with, we can choose one or two road sections which obviously show the symptoms to experiment on. Improving the traffic flow is a cost-effective way to improve the situation without making big changes to the roadway system."
Wang's suggestion has already received positive feedback from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.
The current plan uses a convertible lane to adjust traffic flow. The lane by the median strip carries the vehicles into town during the morning rush hours but in the afternoon it switches and carries the vehicles that are heading out of town.
Drivers fed up with the bad traffic in Beijing think any action is better than nothing, "I think the traffic bureau will work out a more detailed and suitable plan after having more practice. As long as the authority is trying their best to work out a plan and carry it out, the traffic will get better and better."
Recently a convertible lane appeared on the road connecting the downtown area with the Wangjing area. If it works, the method will be used on more roads in the city.
China Drive is one of CRI's radio programs aired from Monday to Friday. We pick the most interesting life reports from China Drive. Stay tuned.
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