Security checks grind traffic to a halt

• Source: Global Times
• [10:55 April 16 2010]
• Comments

A traffic officer signals a driver to slow down Thursday at the Zhuqiao checkpoint on the G15 expressway in Shanghai. Photo: CFP

By Duan Wuning

Drivers commuting to Shanghai from neighboring areas can expect major delays getting into the city as police pump up public security checks for those entering the metropolis via expressway ahead of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

The public security checks that will last until the end of the Expo started Thursday at 34 stations - covering every entrance to Shanghai via expressway - snarling traffic for hours.

The Zhuqiao checkpoint which allows drivers from Jiangsu Province entry into the city's Jiading district was most congested in the afternoon with frustrated commuters waiting for upwards of two hours to pass through a two-kilometer stretch of road.

Authorities said that drivers from the Yangtze River Delta could reduce wait times coming into Shanghai by applying for an Expo permit. Commuters with the permit are allowed to wait in a separate line and only 20 percent of the permit-holders are randomly checked.

Authorities added that the delays were normal for the first day of operations as confused drivers helped to slow down the process.

"We encourage car owners to apply for the permits in advance to relieve pressures," Shen Xiaosu, vice director of the Shanghai Construction and Transportation Commission, told reporters at a press conference Thursday.

Every driver without an Expo permit is subject to a security check which involves showing police their identification card, driver's license and vehicle registration.

Drivers must also clear a vehicle search by police before they are allowed into Shanghai.

The same goes for truck drivers, who in addition will need to provide a list of the supplies they are shipping.