Heavy holiday traffic to arrive

National flags are hung on the lampposts at Shennan Boulevard. Sun Yuchen

A total of 1.7 million vehicles will come in or out of Shenzhen during the National Day holiday period, and the travel peak is expected to arrive Monday and Tuesday, according to a release by the Shenzhen traffic police Thursday.

Expressways like G15, S31, S33, Eastern Coastal Expressway and G4 are easily congested with outbound vehicles in the first two days of holidays, while starting Oct. 3, the expressways will see heavy inbound traffic.

Meiguan Expressway (G94) will see around 16,000 vehicles a day coming to Shenzhen, police said, citing statistics from previous years, while Shenzhen-Shantou Expressway will see 16,500 vehicles leaving the city each day. Around 400,000 vehicles will come to Shenzhen during the holiday.

Urban areas, eastern tourist attractions, business circles and shopping malls will see heavy traffic. Luohu will be the most seriously congested, followed by Futian and Nanshan.

As celebrations will be held during the National Day holiday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, police said 10 scenic spots, including OCT East, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Lianhua Hill Park and Shenzhen Bay Park, are likely to be congested.

To relieve congestion and improve efficiency, Shenzhen police will initiate tidal lanes on Eastern Coastal Expressway and have advised drivers to eastern tourist attractions in Meisha and Dapeng to make reservations before their trips.

The temperatures will range between 26 and 32 degrees Celsius during the National Day holiday and, because the tolls on expressways will be free, police estimate drivers may take long trips, so they suggest driving safely during the holiday period, which often sees a rise in traffic accidents.