China faces major challenges in planning and transport policy, particularly in traffic engineering. There are a large number of pedestrians in most Chinese cities. Since many urban roads are wide, the green man time needed by pedestrians is high. A common solution is to provide high-level pedestrian bridges and walkways. On most main roads cyclists are provided with cycle lanes, segregated from other traffic by low barriers or raised kerbs. A new form of junction, the Shanghai junction, has been recommended. This is intended to bring first cyclists and then other traffic into an advanced area to allow crossing without conflict. Bus use is high, but buses generally have no priority over other traffic. The provision of bus priority and the upgrading of the busiest bus services to Bus Rapid Transit or tram have the potential to increase the capacity, speed and reliability of existing services and to reduce congestion. Taxis account for a large percentage of the pcu-km, but deliver a relatively small part of the passenger km. One solution would be to oblige them to wait in ranks in side streets rather than cruise the main streets in search of passengers. Parking is generally well controlled in large cities. Car ownership in China is still low, but needs to be controlled. The traditional method is through the vehicle licence system, but a road pricing system could be feasible. Changes to junction design to improve traffic management are considered.
Abstract