Airport Expressway Needs Widening
I saw a friend off at the Beijing airport today. It was my first trip out there in about two years. The relatively newly built airport expressway was absolutely overwhelmed with traffic. This is only going to get worse in the future.
I remember the first time I was on that expressway, during my first trip to China, almost exactly seven years ago. It was virtually empty. However, I remember thinking at the time, only six to eight lanes, and not particularly wide lanes at that? This thing is going to be overwhelmed in about ten years and they’re going to have to widen it.
Every couple years I seem to make my way there, and every time I do I find growing evidence that I was right. If I am right, how is it that the authorities have been so careless as to build a major expressway without enough lanes? Do the five year plans mean they can literally plan for no longer than five years in the future? And if I’m wrong, well, good. I hope I am wrong about this.
