Beijing Will Soon Ban Vehicles from Hutong Alleyways

By Justine Lopez

In the capital’s latest effort to clean up the hutongs, motorized vehicles will soon be prohibited from parking in the city’s centrally located hutong alleyways and backstreets, Xinhua reports.

Motorized vehicles – including cars and motorbikes – will no longer be able to park in hutong backstreets that are less than five meters wide and located in the “core zone” (presumably this means anything within the Second Ring Road).

Motorized vehicles are also advised not to drive along these streets.

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Streets measuring five to nine meters wide will still allow vehicles but they will only be able to drive one way. Hutongs that are wider than nine meters will have two lanes and will remain open to vehicles. However, these roads must allot 3.5 meters for an emergency lane.

In addition to these new parking and driving restrictions, the city has also vowed to clean up 2,435 streets – roughly two-thirds of Beijing’s hutongs – in the next three years.

[Image via National Geographic] 

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