New traffic rules took effect Sunday to rid the city of its pollution. "It's taken some pressure off the roads," Mo said. Chinese authorities have said the traffic measures, which allow cars with even and odd license plates to drive on alternate days, will cut automobile emissions by more than 60 percent and take half of the city's 3.2 million cars off the road. "The government has the ability to deal with the traffic," said Wang Xinyang, 25, a computer programmer who rode the new No. 10 subway with his fianc-Ie on Sunday. "We hope that it can deal with pollution too." Pollution is certainly more of a challenge. The sky was blue on Sunday, but by Monday morning it had clouded up with a familiar white haze. With a host of other measures in place to curb industrial pollution through a vast swath of northern China, the country believes that Beijing's air will be breathable by endurance athletes when the events begin in 18 days. A top Ethiopian distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie, said in March that he won't compete in the marathon in Beijing because he feared the air here would hurt his health. The U.S. Olympic Committee's leading exercise physiologist has developed a mask for its athletes to wear, at their discretion, in the lead-up to competition.
Jake Hooker writes: Beijing imposes traffic rules ahead of Olympics
Beijing imposes traffic rules ahead of Olympics
By Jake Hooker
Published: July 21, 2008
Caption: Shuangjing Bridge Photo: 2 dogs Flickr Creative Commons
BEIJING: Mo Guoxiang stood under one of this city's most congested traffic bridges on Monday, taking relief from the brutal heat. Down below the Jianguomen bridge, cars moved along more briskly than usual.
Mo, a member of China's volunteer militia, said his morning bus ride to work was ten minutes shorter than usual after — new traffic rules took effect Sunday to rid the city of its pollution.
"It's taken some pressure off the roads," Mo said. Chinese authorities have said the traffic measures, which allow cars with even and odd license plates to drive on alternate days, will cut automobile emissions by more than 60 percent and take half of the city's 3.2 million cars off the road.
Odd-even restrictions on private vehicles will be in place for the next two months during the Olympic Games and the Paralympics. Trucks producing high emissions have been blocked from entering Beijing since July 1.
On Sunday and Monday, the traffic appeared to have improved. Beijing drivers found a way to get to work. Drivers with license plates ending in even numbers placed notices on Web sites looking for cars with odd numbers, to set up car pools. Local newspapers reported a surge in bicycle sales and many people rode a new subway line that opened over the weekend.
"The government has the ability to deal with the traffic," said Wang Xinyang, 25, a computer programmer who rode the new No. 10 subway with his fianc-Ie on Sunday. "We hope that it can deal with pollution too."
Pollution is certainly more of a challenge. The sky was blue on Sunday, but by Monday morning it had clouded up with a familiar white haze.
With a host of other measures in place to curb industrial pollution through a vast swath of northern China, the country believes that Beijing's air will be breathable by endurance athletes when the events begin in 18 days.
A top Ethiopian distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie, said in March that he won't compete in the marathon in Beijing because he feared the air here would hurt his health. The U.S. Olympic Committee's leading exercise physiologist has developed a mask for its athletes to wear, at their discretion, in the lead-up to competition.
Many Olympic teams have chosen to train in places with crisper air such as Korea.
Over the weekend, environmental officials began a sweep of the city to make sure construction sites had stopped cement production and hundreds of factories in neighboring provinces will slow or stop production stop to prevent emissions from blowing into Beijing.
A week ago, Shougang Iron and Steel Group announced that it would limit production during the Olympic Games to reduce pollution, according a statement released on the Shenzhen stock exchange, where the company is listed. The steel plant, Beijing's worst polluter, will be moving to the coast of neighboring Hebei province by 2010.
Ten days ago, its smokestacks were still pluming streams of gray smoke. Locals say a good wind can blow the air clear. Several still days, however, can leave the city stewing in a white curtain of car exhaust and factory emissions.
On Sunday, the first day of traffic controls, the skies over Beijing were blue. Clouds, fat and wispy, moved through the atmosphere. It was a good start. But on Monday morning, a light haze returned. The pollution was not chokingly bad, as it can be when it is humid, but the sky was white again.
At 9 a.m., He Wanzhong, a taxi driver, peered through the windshield of his Volkswagen Jetta.
"The air is truly bad," he said. "Beijing is surrounded by mountains. If there's no wind, the air sits here." Pollution has been a sore spot for Beijing's Olympic planners since the city won the bid for the games in 2001.
In the last year, it has opened three new subway lines and designated special lanes for high-speed buses. It planted a forest of small trees north of the Olympic Stadium.
At the terminally congested Jianguomen crossover, cars seemed to move more briskly than usual.
Almost all of the cars had odd numbered license plates. Mo, the militiaman stationed under the bridge, didn't seem too concerned about the air pollution. He said his job was to keep the bridge safe.
A block away a rickshaw driver, who gave only his surname, Peng, said the air was fine by his reckoning. Ten years, ago Beijing was like a "lidded kettle," he said, and everyone was stuck inside.
"It can only be better than this during the Olympics," he said, as the clouds caught the late-afternoon light. "Because the government is in control."
