2.5m tomb sweepers set to clog city’s roads
Print Edition
ALMOST 2.5 million people are expected to visit the city’s cemeteries in the 10 days up to the winter solstice on December 22.
The annual event, which is known locally as dongzhi, is a time when Chinese people pay their respects to deceased relatives by “sweeping” their tombs.
About 1 million people will travel to cemeteries on the day itself, while about 900,000 others are expected to do so on the two days prior, the city’s civil affairs bureau said yesterday.
The total number of visitors over the 10 days is expected to surpass the 2.2 million reported last year, it said.
The huge surge in traffic over the period is likely to cause significant disruption, which will be exacerbated by the fact that this year’s solstice falls on a Monday, the bureau said.
Jiading, Qingpu, Fengxian and Baoshan districts, and the Pudong New Area, which are home to several cemeteries, are likely to be the worst affected by the surge in traffic, while the S2, S4, S5 and G50 highways are expected to see serious congestion, traffic police said.
To help ease the pressure on the roads, shuttle buses will run from three Metro stations — Dongjing on Line 9, and Huaxia Road East and Xujing East on Line 2 — to nearby cemeteries.
Officials from Fushouyuan Cemetery in Qingpu, meanwhile, said they will keep people up to date with the traffic situation via regular WeChat and Weibo posts, while Songhe Cemetery in Jiading said it has rented four car parks at Shanghai International Circuit to accommodate the extra cars.
Police said they will use helicopters to monitor the situation and provide real-time updates on large screens positioned along the city’s highways.
As well as the efforts to reduce congestion, the civil affairs bureau has appealed to all those planning to travel to a cemetery to avoid doing so during the morning and evening rush hours.
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