Beijing shutdown begins with traffic, factory curbs to help clear city air for Olympics

Enlarge Photo Beijing shutdown begins with traffic, factory curbs to help clear city air for Olympics

Sun, Jul 20 10:05 PM

BEIJING (AP) _ With the Olympics less than three weeks away, Beijing began limiting car use and factory emissions Sunday in a drastic final effort to clear its smog-choked skies. Under the two-month plan, half of the capital's 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days, depending on whether the license plate ends in an odd or even number.

Skies were relatively clear Sunday after some morning haze, and traffic was light for a weekend, flowing smoothly on highways and city streets. But the real test will come when the work week begins.

"Things are fine today," a taxi driver who gave only her surname, Li, said as she sailed through normally traffic-snarled intersections. "But tomorrow, it may be different as people go to work.

" In addition to the traffic plan, chemical plants, power stations and foundries had to cut emissions by 30 percent beginning Sunday. Dust-spewing construction in the capital was to stop entirely.

Despite architecturally adventurous venues and US$40 billion spent on improving infrastructure, China's greatest challenge has been keeping the city's air clean for the world's greatest athletes participating in the Aug. 8-24 games.

Instead of blue skies, Beijing's skyline is normally shrouded with a thick gray haze. Already, many competitors are choosing to train away from Beijing, and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has said outdoor endurance events lasting more than an hour will be postponed if air quality if poor.

The world's greatest distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, has decided not to run the marathon event because the city's pollution irritates his breathing. Some 300,000 heavily polluting vehicles aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night were banned beginning July 1.

To further ease the gridlock, employers have been asked to stagger work schedules and public institutions will open an hour later than normal. And those driving on days they shouldn't will be fined 100 yuan (US$14), a pricey penalty even for Beijing.

The government has also improved public transportation options for the estimated 4 million extra people who will be off the roads because of the traffic plan, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The city plans to add up to 3,000 more buses by the time the Olympics start, raising the daily capacity for passengers from 12.5 million to 15 million, it said.

Two new subway lines and an airport rail link were opened on Saturday, with the projected number of passengers on the three routes expected to reach 1.1 million daily during the Olympics. "It's much faster than a taxi, so it's very good," said Ola Tunamder, who arrived Sunday from Helsinki, Finland, and took the airport train into the city.

And on July 25, special Olympic traffic lanes will begin operating and will stay in place until Sept. 25.

The city will set aside 165 miles (265 kilometers) of roadway on which certified Olympic vehicles will be allowed to move from hotels, Olympic venues and the Athletes' Village. Experts say the city cleanup measures could still go wrong because unpredictable winds might blow pollution into Beijing, or the lack of wind common in August could enable local pollution to build up.

Dirty air aside, protests over China's human rights record during the global Olympic torch run have contributed to a public relations nightmare in the run-up to the games. A slew of strict rules and regulations governing everything from visa applications to the way a restaurant looks has dampened the celebratory mood.

Also Sunday, Xinhua said that China's civil aviation authorities had begun implementing new air traffic control measures to deal with possible emergency situations like a terrorist attack for the next two months. Citing Su Langen, an aviation official, the report said authorities "will maintain closer monitoring of air traffic" but did not give any details.

"They will respond quickly to emergency situations such as terror attacks, hijacking of civil aircraft, and unauthorized entry of no-fly zone," Xinhua said. Most experts say the actual threat to the Beijing Games from terrorism is low, although the event has become a magnet for critics of the government, ranging from free-speech advocates to activists over Tibet and Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

China has prepared an anti-terror force of nearly 100,000 commandos, police and troops for the Olympics. In March, state media reported that a 19-year-old woman was detained after trying to set a fire in an airplane's toilet in an attempt to hijack and crash the flight.

No one was injured and the plane was diverted. The woman was Uighur, the indigenous Turkic people that populate much of the Xinjiang region in China's west.

Radical Uighurs have been fighting Chinese rule for decades, although critics say communist authorities fuel resentment in Xinjiang with harsh repression and strict rules governing cultural and religious expression.

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