Nanjing city authorities have announced plans for a new ring road that shall relieve rush-hour congestion at key points on the city’s existing main circular artery. All very well, but the main question on everyone’s lips is rather, “Why is it called Ring 1.5”?
The northern capital of Beijing is well known for its six ring roads that encircle the sprawling metropolis. Here in the southern capital, we are thankfully a long way from that particular horror; just two such highways circumvent Nanjing; the inner ring and the outer ring.
Unlike Beijing, where the ring roads are actually square, In Nanjing we have, er, rings, more or less. The Nanjing outer ring carries a toll charge and is therefore a largely peaceful place where congestion is unheard of. On the other hand, the Nanjing inner ring is free of tolls and as a result is clogged at several choke points on a daily basis, mainly during rush hour.
The choke points are specifically where the ring road intersects with Shuanglong Dadao, the Airport Expressway, the Shanghai-Nanjing highway and Fengtai Nan Lu. The final two are particularly bad on account these are the points where the ring road loses a lane or even two.
Hence the need for Ring 1.5, named thus to avoid any remote connotation with Beijing, and on account that the route takes it between the existing inner and outer rings, and because it is only half a ring.
Ring 1.5 will connect the then-complete No. 5 Yangtze River Bridge in the southwest of the city with Xianxin Lu in northeast Xianlin. The 35 kilometre route takes it past Jiangshan Jie, Longxiang Dadao, Hongyun Dadao, Dongqi Lu, Kaicheng Lu and Xianxin Lu, connecting the districts of Jianye, Yuhuatai, Jiangning and Qixia.
The main areas of the city to benefit from Ring 1.5 shall be South New City, the Dongshan and Xianlin Sub Districts, Qilin Ecological Innovation City, Yuhua Software Valley, Jiangning Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xianlin University City and Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
The feasibility study for the new route is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
So there we have it. Ring 1.5 is not a software update; neither is it a half way house between engagement and wedding; it’s just another big, stupid road.
