Jingshi Expressway

The Jingshi Expressway (or Jingshi Freeway, as it was formerly known) is an expressway in China which links Beijing to Shijiazhuang. It is c. 270 km in length. Its road numbering is G030. It forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway (京珠高速公路), and has links to expressways bound for Macao and Hong Kong.

Opened in full in 1993, the expressway runs in a southwest direction, linking the capital of China with the capital of Hebei province.

The Jingshi Expressway gets its name by the combination of two one-character Chinese abbreviations of both Beijing and Shijiazhuang (Beijing -- Jing, Shijiazhuang -- Shi).

Route

 * Route: Liuli Bridge (Western 3rd Ring Road) - Liulihe, Fangshan District
 * Length: 45.6 km
 * Construction: Began in 1986, completed 1993
 * Opened: 1993

The expressway starts from Liuliqiao on the southwestern 3rd Ring Road, passes through the 4th Ring Road at Yuegezhuang, and then approaches a heavily industrialised area, the Xidaokou area near Shougang. On the way out of Beijing, one passes through the famous Luguoqiao area - home to the Marco Polo Bridge and Wanping, marking where the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937.

The Dujiakan toll gate (for the Beijing stretch) follows after a bridge crossing what used to be a vast Yongding River (永定河). (Sadly, it has now apparently dried up.) After the toll gate, the expressway links to roads connecting to Fangshan and Liangxiang satellite town. A link to the 6th Ring Road opened on December 20, 2004.

The expressway also links Beijing to the Zhoukoudian Peking Man cave, as well as Yunju Temple.

The Beijing portion of the expressway ends after the Liulihe exit (Exit No. 18). Before the Beijing portion ends, the Doudian Service Area appears. A toll gate follows just outside of city/municipality limits.

The Hebei portion of the expressway starts right before the Beijing South Toll Gate. As of the Hebei portion (strictly speaking, as of just before the Beijing portion ends), the expressway shrinks from 6 lanes (3 up, 3 down) to 4 lanes (2 up, 2 down). The large "lawn" in the middle of the expressway separate the two sets of carriageways going in different directions is no more as of the Hebei portion.

For more information see: Expressways Wiki: Jingshi Expressway (to come soon)

Safety
The section between Liuliqiao and Wanping is considered relatively safe; lighting is available at night. However, for the section between Zhaoxindian and Liulihe, the expressway has no lighting at night except for at some junctions. Additionally, resist the temptation to drive on the grass; there apparently is a deep cutting near the central reservation. At locations where the carriageways on the expressway pass over bridges, the location where the central reservation would be is replaced with emptiness; there have been cases of cars and lorries falling into the hidden holes. In September 2005, new, fortified metal barriers were erected before such bridges, thus preventing any future such incidents.


 * Speed limit:
 * 80 km/h: Liuliqiao - Xidaokou
 * 90 km/h: Xidaokou - Dujiakan Toll Gate
 * 100 km/h maximum: Dujiakan Toll Gate - Zhaoxindian. (100 km/h limited to most interior lane.)
 * 120 km/h maximum: Zhaoxindian - Liulihe. (120 km/h limited to most interior lane.)


 * Speed checks:
 * Yuegezhuang Bridge
 * Dajing Bridge
 * Jingliang Bridge
 * km 35.5


 * Areas without night lighting: Dujiakan Toll Gate - Liulihe (major exits are lighted)

Construction
Claimed as the first completed expressway in mainland China, construction began in April 1986 and was completed in segments, culminating eventually in November 1993, although the Beijing section was opened around the start of the 1990s. The section from Liuliqiao through to Zhaoxindian was already opened in 1987, making it Beijing's very first expressway.

At first, the expressway had only two lanes per direction; a third lane was converted from a hard shoulder later in the 1990s.

By July 2004, the Beijing section was fully fitted with physical carriage separation facilities, making a U-turn on the expressway impossible.

News from September 2004 spread that the central toll gate at Beijing South/Zhuozhou would soon be expanded to twenty lanes instead of the current ten lanes. The current central toll gate is often home to traffic jams, as its size is way too small.

There will be a direct link to the expressway from Caihuying Bridge on the 2nd Ring Road through Fengbei Bridge.

Accidents
In early February 2004, a traffic accident occurred when a lorry driver, who was in the middle of repairing a tyre, was literally thrown into the middle of the road, as a result of a huge jet of air which came from the tyre change. The driver then was hit by an oncoming vehicle, causing a deadly casualty.

At around 5 AM on August 14, 2005, a light truck headed out of Beijing crashed into the central reservation in the Liangxiang stretch of the expressway and fell into a hole at a point where the expressway was suspended over a viaduct. On this expressway, the central reservation is not extended (like the carriageways) over a bridge; consequently, holes (where the central reservation used to lay) would lie in its place. The truck smashed into another vehicle which just happened to pass under the bridge at the time of the accident. One person from the truck died, and another person was severely injured. This kind of tragedy repeated itself at Doudian Bridge at around 4 AM on August 28, 2005, when a van carrying watermelons fell from a hole on the expressway into an empty space, causing an accident at Doudian Bridge. Two people were killed. Since the incidents, metal barriers have been installed before the bridges, thus preventing such incidents in the future.

2005 Roadworks
In April 2005, massive roadworks which would last into September 2005 began on the Jingshi Expressway. The main reason behind the roadworks: age. The Jingshi Expressway had archaic facilities which were incompatible with the Beijing of today. Most road facilities were too old, the road surface quality was deplorable, and the expressway showed every sign that major roadworks project was necessary. This was only natural for an expressway which was constructed as early as 1987.

Road conditions were mediocre to poor in some areas in the Beijing segment. Before this was rectified in July 2004, one of the oddest features of this expressway's Beijing segment was that, at times, there was no central physical structure -- not even a barrier -- to separate the carriageways running in opposite directions in the Beijing portion. (This made it potentially insecure in the case of a car crash from the carriageways running in the opposite direction, and made it possible to do a complete U-turn on the expressway -- something that's against the expressway management regulations.) Relief came by the end of July 2004, when the entire Beijing segment was fitted with a central barrier.

Within the 5th Ring Road
The first stage involved roadworks from Liuliqiao (3rd Ring Road) through to Wanping (5th Ring Road). Roadworks are also present in the Xidaokou area, where several bridges are undergoing renovation or repairs.

As a result, this section of the Jingshi Expressway was closed to traffic daily from 22:00 until 6:00 (next day) from April 15 until July 3, 2005, when roadworks in this area finally concluded.

Outside of the 5th Ring Road
When the roadworks spread to the Dujiakan area, which housed the toll gate, the expressway temporarily suspended toll collection services. Roadworks have been completed in this area. Nevertheless, a huge traffic jam erupted on May 20, 2005, where traffic was stalled for 14 hours on end. 

Roadworks have been completed in the section heading out of Beijing. Most roadworks moved on to focus on repairing the stretch from Liulihe and outer Beijing through to Zhaoxindian. These roadworks continued until September 30, 2005.

For spraodic periods in July, August and September 2005, the stretch from the 6th Ring Road through to Dujiakan Toll Gate has been sealed off for incoming traffic to Beijing from 20:30-06:00 next day. Vehicles passing by were required to use the 6th Ring Road or the Jingbao Highway.

Dashihe Bridge near Liulihe was under road surface repairs. During the time of the roadworks, vehicles had to change to the other side of the road first, which, at times, precipated large-scale traffic jams.

Detours
Significant traffic were expected and traffic jams often took place. Traffic were recommended to use the following bypass routes:


 * Jingkai Expressway through to the 6th Ring Road;
 * China National Highway 107
 * Jingzhou Road.

Exit Rearrangements
Exit number 2 (Wanfeng Road) was officially made into an exit, and new exits appeared for Chengzhuang (exit number 4), Zhangyicun Road (exit number 5, heading out of Beijing), Fengbei Road (exit number 5, heading into Beijing) and Xidaokou (exit number 7, heading into Beijing). Dujiakan exit was finally signalled as exit number 9, and Doudian exit was renumbered exit 17 (instead of exit 17 for traffic heading into Beijing, and exit 16 for traffic leaving Beijing).

On July 20, 2005, a new offramp and exit appeared where the expressway now links with Jinxiu Road (exit number 16A).

Tolls
The section southwest of the SW 5th Ring Road (Beijing) charges tolls. There are toll gates at Dujiakan (Beijing), South Beijing, and at Shijiazhuang.

For the expressway (apart from the 6th Ring Road), there is currently no networked toll system -- one pays upon entering a different jurisidiction. However, an IC-card system is, apparently, on the drawing board. Tolls are only networked with the 6th Ring Road in Beijing.

CNY 0.33/km for small passenger vehicles. Dujiakan - Beijing South: CNY 15.

Lanes (Beijing section)
6 lanes (3 up, 3 down) uniformly. Exception: Dujiakan Toll Gate - Zhaoxindian has 4 lanes (2 up, 2 down). No emergency belt where there are 6 lanes. Otherwise, cars in need must be driven to the next emergency bay, of which are there are many along the way.

Surface Conditions (Beijing section)
Vastly improved where roadworks have taken place. The section from Liuliqiao through Dujiakan is extremely smooth to drive on.

Traffic (Beijing section)
Good. Smooth and flowing.

Signage
[[Image:JingshiNewOldSigns.jpg|thumb|320px|Road signs were changed in 2005. The newer sign is to the back.]

Road signs were given a complete makeover with the 2005 roadworks. Virtually all signs were updated to conform with the national standards in place.

The new Jingshi Expressway is full of a myriad of traffic signs, some containing information on the next exit, and others just "advisory" signs warning people not to drive when drunk, not to chat on their mobile phones while driving, and not to dump things out of the window at will. Others warn of curves, and still others inform drivers of distances between the current spot and the next major cities.

There used to be only one or two locations on the expressway where drivers could test if they were driving too close (those areas marked with "confirm your distance". The roadworks added those, so now they appear more plentiful.

Doudian Service Area was finally given a name (the previous signs just mentioned "Service Area" in its place).

New electronic displays were installed too. On large displays mounted on gantries over the road, road conditions were displayed, and on smaller displays mounted by the side of the expressway, tips and hints on driving could be seen (e.g. don't drive too fast, drive carefully, etc...)

However, for history's sake, we maintain the section below as a hint of what used to appear on the expressway, signpost-wise.

Signpost Oddities
Before the 2005 roadworks breathed new life into the signposts, the Jingshi Expressway was home to a myriad of signpost oddities:


 * The exit number was shown at the bottom right hand corner of the exit sign, instead of being at the bottom left hand corner as is standard everywhere else on PRC expressways.


 * Road signs signalling the reduction of lanes used a previous, archaic and abandoned image.


 * Exit numbering was chaotic. Exits number 1 through 5 in the Beijing portion appeared before the Dujiakan toll gate. After that, the numbering was instantly raised to exits number 10 through 18. Following a switch of jurisdiction to Hebei, the numbering was reset and recommenced at zero. All other Chinese expressways use a numbering system which is uniform throughout the entire expressway and does not change or jump figures when toll gates, jurisdiction changes, etc... are passed through.


 * Signs indicating the overtaking lane, the carriageways and the hard shoulder were completely in Chinese characters in the Beijing segment (except for one single sign on the way out of Beijing).

Arabic numbers on the signposts, more often than not, appeared deformed or stretched.

The fonts in English were another problem. Older signs have English/Pinyin in very small type, which made them a real challenge to read. The problems were solved in late 2004, with most plates being replaced with newer signs which have English letters in much more legible type. (They were solved again with the 2005 roadworks).

Even as of late 2004, modernised and newer signs did exist. The entire exit number 15 (with the 6th Ring Road) used brand-new signs of the new standard that even indicate the level of the expressway and the expressway road numbering. The exit number is shown on the bottom left hand corner at this very exit.

Major Exits (Beijing)
3rd Ring Road, 4th Ring Road, 5th Ring Road, Yancun, 6th Ring Road, Doudian

Service Areas (Beijing)
Doudian Service Area exists between the Doudian and Liulihe Exits. Conditions are run-down but are awaiting a major overhaul in 2005.

Connections (Beijing)

 * 3rd Ring Road: Liuliqiao
 * 4th Ring Road: Yuegezhuang. Separate exits (3A and 3B) for traffic heading into Beijing.
 * 5th Ring Road: Wanping. Direct exits for traffic heading into Beijing. Use Laozizhuang exit for a U-turn possibility for traffic heading into Beijing on the outer (counterclockwise) ring of the 5th Ring Road.
 * 6th Ring Road: Liyuan Bridge. Separate exits (15A and 15B) for traffic heading out from Beijing.