Ministry intervenes to get ice-hit traffic moving
By Zha Minjie |
January 4, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ROAD and air traffic seriously disrupted by rain and ice in China's south since Saturday began moving again yesterday.
On the expressways, it will take some time to clear the gridlock as roads are filled with thousands of stationary vehicles, including many left when their owners were evacuated. Thousands of drivers were still stuck in traffic jams late yesterday.
Expressways had been closed since Saturday as temperatures dropped below zero. Thousands of motorists in central China's Hunan Province and Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the south were evacuated to villages and service stations, where they received food and shelter.
In Hunan, a highway worker keeping cars moving died yesterday morning. Wang Liguo, 37, was assisting at the scene of an accident on a section of expressway between Changsha City and Linxiang City, when a vehicle slid on the ice and hit him.
Nearly 10,000 workers and officials have been working around the clock since Saturday to try to keep traffic moving in Hunan. Buses carrying more than 6,000 passengers were redirected late Sunday after being stuck in traffic for a day.
The traffic jam in Hunan was caused by the closure of expressways in neighboring Guizhou after freezing rain turned into two-centimeter thick ice on almost all the province's highways.
More than 7,000 people were left stranded in Guizhou, according to the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transport.
In Guangxi, more than 8,000 people in 1,500 vehicles stretching 20 kilometers on an expressway in Nandan County were stranded from late Saturday until yesterday afternoon after the road to Guizhou became impassable.
The Ministry of Public Security enacted emergency procedures to cope with the weather conditions in the affected areas.
The ministry urged local authorities in Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan to prevent passengers from again being stranded due to icy rain and freezing temperatures.
Traffic leaving Shanghai to the affected areas was not badly hit as there are few direct long-distance bus services.
Flights had been grounded by the weather, but services to and from Guizhou's Guiyang airport resumed yesterday.
The China Meteorological Administration predicted yesterday that widespread icy rain and a deep freeze were unlikely to again hit Guizhou and Hunan in the next few days, although low temperatures would continue.
But icy rain would continue in mountainous areas in Guangxi over the next three days.
These travel problems have raised concerns among migrant workers preparing to go home for the forthcoming Spring Festival.
In Shanghai long-distance bus operators, airlines and railways are gearing up to prepare for the 40-day spring rush, starting from January 19.
The city is expected to handle about 27.6 million passengers, up 6 percent from last year.
On the expressways, it will take some time to clear the gridlock as roads are filled with thousands of stationary vehicles, including many left when their owners were evacuated. Thousands of drivers were still stuck in traffic jams late yesterday.
Expressways had been closed since Saturday as temperatures dropped below zero. Thousands of motorists in central China's Hunan Province and Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the south were evacuated to villages and service stations, where they received food and shelter.
In Hunan, a highway worker keeping cars moving died yesterday morning. Wang Liguo, 37, was assisting at the scene of an accident on a section of expressway between Changsha City and Linxiang City, when a vehicle slid on the ice and hit him.
Nearly 10,000 workers and officials have been working around the clock since Saturday to try to keep traffic moving in Hunan. Buses carrying more than 6,000 passengers were redirected late Sunday after being stuck in traffic for a day.
The traffic jam in Hunan was caused by the closure of expressways in neighboring Guizhou after freezing rain turned into two-centimeter thick ice on almost all the province's highways.
More than 7,000 people were left stranded in Guizhou, according to the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transport.
In Guangxi, more than 8,000 people in 1,500 vehicles stretching 20 kilometers on an expressway in Nandan County were stranded from late Saturday until yesterday afternoon after the road to Guizhou became impassable.
The Ministry of Public Security enacted emergency procedures to cope with the weather conditions in the affected areas.
The ministry urged local authorities in Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan to prevent passengers from again being stranded due to icy rain and freezing temperatures.
Traffic leaving Shanghai to the affected areas was not badly hit as there are few direct long-distance bus services.
Flights had been grounded by the weather, but services to and from Guizhou's Guiyang airport resumed yesterday.
The China Meteorological Administration predicted yesterday that widespread icy rain and a deep freeze were unlikely to again hit Guizhou and Hunan in the next few days, although low temperatures would continue.
But icy rain would continue in mountainous areas in Guangxi over the next three days.
These travel problems have raised concerns among migrant workers preparing to go home for the forthcoming Spring Festival.
In Shanghai long-distance bus operators, airlines and railways are gearing up to prepare for the 40-day spring rush, starting from January 19.
The city is expected to handle about 27.6 million passengers, up 6 percent from last year.
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