Shenzhen will open more marine and air routes in 2018, with five international routes inaugurated to cities like London, Madrid and Brussels and five international cruise routes. Shenzhen will develop routes to innovation-driven cities worldwide, hot cities in Europe, America and Australia and cities along the routes of the “Belt and Road” Initiative. The city will continue the construction of its airport’s third runway and T3 satellite concourse, select the site for a second airport, and evaluate the risk of social stability for a heliport in Zhangkengjing. It will improve the process for international transfers in its airport and implement visa-free and inspection-free policies if visitors stay in the city for under 144 hours and 24 hours, respectively.
Targeting Singapore and Hong Kong, Shenzhen will work out a plan to build a free trade port and endeavor to be included in China’s pilot free trade port program. It will continue its research into the short-distance container land port system in the Port of Shenzhen, carry out advance work for projects in Donggang district and Yantian, and complete a feasibility study and preliminary design of the phase II of waterways in west Shenzhen. The city will take measures such as cutting transportation prices and providing greater convenience to improve the proportion of ship and railway transportation to 21%. Shenzhen will increase deployment of water ferries and launch five international cruise routes.
To ease traffic jams, Shenzhen will transform 100 of the most congested areas and work out a charging policy during traffic jams. It will take step-by-step measures to ease traffic jams around the most congested places such as ports, schools and hospitals. The city will begin traffic control in villages in the city, transform 100 of the most congested locations, reopen access to 20 damaged roads, build or continue construction of 200 kilometers of branch roads, and promote adoption of reversible lanes and displaced left turns to ease traffic jams.
Shenzhen will amend the rules for adjusting increases of private car numbers, and roll out systems for managing the transfer of second-hand cars and non-local private cars. It will use economic incentives to guide the use of private cars, and study the application of charging and parking limits during traffic jams. The city will adjust parking prices in the most congested places and study the adoption of HOV and HOT lanes on expressways in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen will continue to launch new models of public transport services and deliver 100 premium cruising taxis and 100 barrier-free taxis this year. Meanwhile, it will launch and adjust over 85 bus routes and over 10 shuttle bus routes to improve the coverage of bus stations within 500 meters to 95.8%. The city will further integrate the operation of buses in Shenzhen, Shantou, Dongguan and Huizhou and improve inter-city bus services. The city will encourage connecting flights and multimodal transport for long-distance passenger transport routes and cancel passenger transport routes with a distance of at least 800 kilometers within Guangdong.
To address the difficulty in finding parking spots around the most congested places such as hospitals and old residential communities, Shenzhen will build 20 mechanical parking garages in places such as Longgang Central Hospital of Shenzhen, add 10,500 parking spots on roads, and build four bus stations in Yueliangwan and begin planning to build 20 bus stations in Datianyang. It will issue rules on operation and administration of mechanical parking garages this year.
As for shared bikes and self-driving vehicles, Shenzhen will add 206 kilometers of bike lanes, and integrate rail traffic, bus and slow-moving traffic in 10 areas this year. The city will add 8,000 bike parking spots, build bike lanes that cross districts such as Longhua-Futian, and improve smart parking for bikes. In the first half of 2018, the city will issue a policy on administration of self-driving vehicles, study medium volume transit systems such as straddle-type monorails, sky trains and smart trains, and promote adoption of smart driving.
According to Shenzhen’s 2018 planning for highway networks and urban rail construction, the city will build two highways, including the Bao’an-Pingshan dual- level highway and a 72.8 kilometer east-west highway in Baopeng, including a 29.1 kilometer newly-built section and 43.7 kilometers of renovated sections. Shenzhen will speed up construction of inter-city railways, and study planning the construction of building inter-city railways between Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, such as Shenzhen-Zhuhai, Shenzhen-Zhongshan, Shenzhen-Huizhou, Shenzhen-Shantou and Shenzhen-Dongguan. Shenzhen plans to build highways and railways between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shenzhen will expand urban railways to the Hetao area and will work to be included into Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s network planning. It will continue to boost its plan to expand the south section of Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen inter-city railway and Shenzhen-Huizhou inter-city railway. Shenzhen will build an inter-city railway network that complements the national railway network. The city will speed up the construction of the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen section of the inter-city railway in Shenzhen and work to put it into operation by the end of 2018.
