Northeastern Urban Road Link

The Northeastern Urban Road Link (东北城角联络线) is a city express road, providing a direct, rapid link from the northeastern 2nd Ring Road between Xiaojie Bridge and Dongzhimen Bridge through to the Airport Expressway.

Construction began in 2004. The road link's bridge structures were gradually put into place in late 2004 and by mid-2005, more and more of the road link is being completed. The road opened on December 24, 2005.

Traffic will be able to access the Airport Expressway in under 2 minutes (in good traffic), as the road link is a mere 2.5 km in length. Most of the road is in the form of a long viaduct.

Route

 * Route: Xiaojie Bridge (Northern 2nd Ring Road) - Sanyuan Bridge (Northeastern 3rd Ring Road)
 * Length: 2.5 km
 * Construction: Began in July 2004, completed December 2005
 * Opened: December 24, 2005

2nd Ring Road
A huge construction site on both sides of the 2nd Ring Road between Xiaojie Bridge and Dongzhimen Bridge heralded the start of the project. In all, four new ramps were built, with the ramp coming from the 2nd Ring Road (clockwise direction) the widest, with two lanes and an emergency lane, and the ramp that connects to the eastern 2nd Ring Road the longest. Noise protection walls were installed.

A huge, new pedestrian bridge crossing was built and completed in late January 2005.

Traffic can access the road link from the main road of the 2nd Ring Road heading counterclockwise, and from the main and side roads of the 2nd Ring Road heading clockwise.

Dongzhimen Outer Side Street
The road link ultimately forms part of what used to be Dongzhimen Outer Side Street. To make way for the express road link, a large part of a roadside park and plenty of trees were destroyed in mid-2004. The former, larger roadside park often was the scene morning exercises, especially tai-chi and dancing. The only remains of park life include a poorly-maintained children's playground, which is dangerously close to the road; however, the playground was preserved.

3rd Ring Road
Sanyuan Bridge was expected to be altered to accommodate for the new road. Currently, there is no traffic input heading southwest; the only way vehicles can access the road link is by a direct road from the Airport Expressway.

Safety

 * Speed limit: 60 km/h for the main road; 30 km/h for the side road; 30 km/h or 40 km/h on individual bridge portions.
 * Speed checks: None

Links

 * ce.cn report on the construction of the bridges ("东北二环连机场 高架桥主体完工", Sep 26, 2005)
 * The Beijing Times report on the opening ("东北城角联络线昨日通车", Dec 25, 2005)