SHENZHEN will designate reversible lanes near the former checkpoints in Meilin and Buji to ease chronic traffic jams, the city’s political advisory body said last week.

    A reversible lane will be used on Caitian Road in the morning rush hour, relieving southbound traffic around the former Meilin Checkpoint. Longgang Boulevard-Wenjin Road North will see another reversible lane, easing northbound traffic in the evening rush hour, according to a meeting convened by the municipal committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

    Last month the city’s traffic authorities announced a series of measures to renovate the areas around the former checkpoints that were used to separate the former special economic zone from the rest of the city. The special economic zone, formerly covering Nanshan, Futian, Luohu and Yantian, expanded to cover the whole city in 2010, making the former checkpoints meaningless.

    The former checkpoints were dismantled over the past two months and the areas are undergoing renovations to promote smoother traffic.

    The former Buji Checkpoint, which connected Luohu and Longgang districts, and the former Meilin Checkpoint, which linked Futian and Bao’an districts, have raised the ire of drivers by causing frequent traffic jams.

    Officials expect the traffic passing the two former checkpoints to double by 2020 to 1.2 million vehicles a day. Skyrocketing housing prices mean that many people have to buy homes far away from the city center and travel a long distance for work.  (SD News)