Renovation frees up underground space

Ran Tao and Tom Qian

RENOVATION of space under the elevated road of Xinyu Road is now complete. 

The 26 million yuan (US$3.9 million) project included installing a sewage pipe network, clearing construction waste, planting trees and painting the bottom of the elevated road and its support columns.

In Jiading’s Zhenxin sub-district there are more than 100 archways under elevated roads which were considered an ideal solution to traffic jams. 

However, most of the archeways have been illegally occupied and used as warehouses or small workshops. 

The space under the Beijing-Shanghai highway was known for illegal construction and random parking. 

As the situation of chaotic parking and construction became more serious, traffic jams increased. 

A lot of people parked their cars randomly under the elevated road, and often the cars inside couldn’t get out as a result.  

So far 80 percent of the 78 archways under elevated roads in Zhenxin have been renovated, and will be open to the public late this year. 

Parking lines have been painted under the elevated road and physical exercise spaces have also been set up. 

Most of the vendors in nearby tea and textile market voiced their support. “We are happy to see the parking spaces have been set up and order has been established. Without order our businesses were not promising,” a tea trader surnamed Fu said.  

“After renovation, the environment has been improved and it’s cleaner,” said Dong Shumin, who lives in the Zhenxin Garden neighborhood.