In the past six months since its opening, the city’s first bicycle road has not decreased in popularity. The reporter learned from the Municipal Transportation Committee this morning (December 18) that the cumulative traffic of the bicycle special road (Huilongguan to Shangdi Software Park) exceeded 1 million person-times, and even in winter, the average daily traffic on weekdays remained at about 3,000. In the next step, the bicycle road will strengthen the integration and communication with the urban slow travel system in the east, west and south directions, and create a networked slow travel network.
Commuters brave the cold and ride hard
At 9 a.m., citizen Ms. Fu rode into the beginning of the bicycle road at the intersection of Tongcheng Street and Mandarin Road, wearing a helmet, gloves and a face scarf. As a cycling enthusiast, Ms. Fu has always insisted on commuting by bike. “I rode to Zhongguancun Software Park from a nearby community, and in the past there were many traffic lights on Beiqing Road and Building Materials City Road, but now I take the bicycle road smoothly, which can save more than ten minutes.”
The reporter noticed that although the bicycle road is currently in the “off-season”, there are still many commuter cyclists in the morning rush. Gan Feng, deputy director of Beijing Urban Road Maintenance Management Center, said that since the bicycle road opened for trial operation on May 31, the overall operation has been stable, the traffic volume has returned from fresh experience to normal, and the average daily passenger flow is relatively stable, mainly the passenger flow that just needs to commuter. On weekdays, there are double peak tides in the morning and evening, with peak traffic hours from 7 am to 11 am and 6 pm to 10 pm, and the rest of the time the traffic flow is low.
As of today, the cumulative number of bicycle roads has exceeded 1 million, and the average daily traffic on winter weekdays remains at about 3,000. According to the field research results of the transportation department, compared with rail transit, ground buses, taxis and cars, bicycle travel is the most cost-effective way to commute between Huilongguan and Shangdi Software Park.
Closed snow removal in heavy snowfall to ensure safety
On November 29 and December 15, there was two snowfalls in Beijing, and the bicycle road was also subjected to two snowy “big tests”. Gan Feng introduced that in addition to the timely use of manual and mechanical combination of rapid snow removal, as the amount of snowfall increased, traffic control was also implemented on the bicycle road, closed snow removal operations, and the snow removal along the route was completed in only 3 hours.
In response to the surrounding residents’ feedback that pedestrians on Yuzhi East Road are crossing the street and detouring far away, on the basis of not affecting the use of the bicycle road, by optimizing the post settings at the west entrance and exit of Huilongguan, the two exits are dissuaded from the main road, so that citizens can go up from Exit 1 on the west side of Huilongguan Metro Station to the special road, through the special road platform, and then down from Exit 2 on the west side of Huilongguan Metro Station, respectively to the north and south sides of Tongcheng Street, which is convenient for citizens to travel.
In addition, combined with citizens’ suggestions, the transportation department has improved 79 sets of no-go signs and instruction signs at important nodes within 500 meters around the bicycle road, installed 56 sets of monitoring equipment and 45 sets of single-point control speakers, achieved full coverage of monitoring and voice prompts, standardized guidance for citizens to ride, and timely prompted uncivilized behavior.
The urban nursing center, together with the traffic detachments of Changping District and Haidian District, jointly established the road love team and the road protection team to form a police-local linkage working mechanism. By analyzing the times when the frequency of illegal cycling is high, traffic police and auxiliary police are stationed at the scene to enforce the law on the spot in key areas and high incidence periods, increase the intensity of punishment, improve the deterrent effect of law enforcement, and greatly reduce illegal cycling behaviors such as break-ins. Since the opening of the bicycle road, a total of 376 violations have been corrected and punished, including 285 warnings and education, 4 penalties for electric bicycles, 86 penalties for bicycles, and 1 punishment for motorcycles.
Strengthen integration with non-motorized greenways
The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Transportation Committee introduced that according to the opinions and suggestions of all walks of life on the bicycle road, the transportation department has carried out planning and research on the improvement of the regional slow travel system in the east, west and south directions of the surrounding area.
In the next step, based on the integration, communication and connection of bicycle roads and the existing urban slow travel system, we will strengthen the full integration with the surrounding non-motorized roads and greenway systems; Open up broken roads, communicate key nodes, and activate the vitality of regional road networks; Continuously optimize the connection between the bicycle road and the nodes of the existing road network in the surrounding area, create a slow driving demonstration block, and attract more citizens to travel green.
Source: Beijing Daily client
Reporter: Sun Hongyang, Wang Haixin
Executive producers: Yang Bin, Zhang Peng
Editor: Kuang Feng
Process Editor: Wang Hongwei