Heavy traffic marks tomb-sweeping day
Print Edition
ROADS leading to cemeteries across Shanghai were heavily congested early yesterday as an estimated 2.5 million residents visited their loved ones’ graves on tomb-sweeping day.
Congestion began to ease after 10am, the Shanghai Road Administration Bureau said.
Spokesman Guo Xuliang told Shanghai Television that highways leading to the cemeteries were at their busiest for around three hours from 6am.
The first tomb sweepers arrived at Fushouyuan Cemetery in Qingpu District as early as 5am, and there were tailbacks stretching three kilometers on the Waiqingsong Highway to the cemetery by 7am. Traffic police had to tell vehicles to take alternative routes.
By then, the cemetery’s 1,400 parking spaces were full.
Yi Hua, the cemetery’s deputy manager, told Shanghai Daily that many residents had changed their plans because of rainy weather on the first two days of the holiday.
Alice Wang said it took her almost 30 minutes to find a parking space when she arrived around 6:30am. “I did not expect the cemetery to be that crowded because I left home at 5am,” she said.
Songhe Cemetery in Jiading District arranged more than 100 shuttle buses to take people from the nearest Metro station, and only buses and shuttle buses were allowed to park there, with private cars guided to the Shanghai International Circuit, venue for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.
There was also gridlock on some sections of the Yan’an Elevated Road and Middle Ring Road at 7am, and a one-way traffic policy was in operation on Zhulu Rd W. leading to Xujingxi Cemetery.
Similar measures were in force on Shenzhuan Highway leading to Tianma Cemetery in Songjiang District and two exits on the G2 Beijing-Shanghai Expressway were closed temporarily.
Several expressways saw traffic jams again at 1pm, with people returning home from cemeteries and scenic spots, the bureau said.
Traffic flow wasn’t helped by a minor four-vehicle bump at 1:21pm near the Changxing Island exit, and vehicles were moving slowly on a 10-kilometer stretch between Changjiang Bridge and Changjiang Tunnel.
At 7:30pm, the G40 between Chongming Island and downtown Shanghai was still crowded with heavy traffic on the 30 kilometers between Chenhai Highway and Changjiang Tunnel.
Between 12am and 4pm yesterday, there were almost 800,000 vehicles on the city’s highways, 10 percent more than last year.
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