Beijing Rush Hour to Last 5 Hours in Days Leading up to Holidays

Your commute just got worse.

Traffic in Beijing is expected to surge over the next week as millions of holiday-goers move to both enter and leave the capital in advance of the Oct 1 National Day holiday.

Beginning on Wednesday, the city's roads will become more congested and result in an evening rush hour that is expected to begin at 2pm and last until 7pm.

The evening rush hour will peak on Saturday (a workday) without any vehicle licensing restrictions to limit the number of cars on city streets. In addition, Saturday morning will see streets closed down around Tian'anmen Square for the Martyr Memorial March.

Beijing's ring roads will become especially congested as will traffic arteries leading to the suburbs. Areas to avoid include the Second Ring Road, including Dongzhimen and Xizhimen, the airport highway express from Sanyuanqiao to Wuyuanqiao, and parts of the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads (as shown below).

Red lines denote congested traffic arteries

Roads will also be busy around transportation hubs like Beijing West Railway Station, Beijing Railway Station, Beijing South Railway Station, and the International Capital Airport.

The Beijing transportation committee explained that the increase in travel is due to residents visiting relatives and friends as well as those running errands and making purchases in preparation for the holiday week, which will last from Oct 1-7.

September has traditionally been a horrible month for traffic jams in Beijing due to the beginning of school and having two public holidays.

This week will also signal the end of summer with the arrival of cooler temperatures. Yesterday we saw a high temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, which is expected to drop to 21 degrees Celsius on Sunday after a slight mid-week rise.

Images: Beijing News (bjnews.com.cn), Quanjing.com

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