Recently, some citizens called the Beijing 12345 citizen service hotline to report that isolation guardrails were installed on a sidewalk on the east side of R&F Plaza in Chaoyang District and near the Shuangjingqiao North Bus Station. This was originally intended to guide traffic, but after the guardrail was installed, the non-motorized lanes next to it became difficult to walk, and congestion often occurred. What's going on?
Electric vehicles are parked on the non-motorized lane next to the Shuangjingqiao North Bus Station/Photographed by reporters
On weekday evenings, the traffic on the non-motorized lanes on the east side and north to south of Shuangjing R&F Plaza is busy, with electric bicycles and bicycles mixed and flowing endlessly. Cyclists are in a hurry, and the speed is fast, but when they get to the vicinity of the Shuangjingqiao North bus station, they have to slow down because there is a row of cars parked horizontally on the non-motorized lanes, most of them electric bicycles, but also shared bicycles. The more than two-meter-wide non-motorized lane has only half of the space left, making it very difficult to navigate. Several citizens said:
Citizen: It's messed up, some people don't care about you, and it's good if they don't give you a place here.
Citizen: You don't know who his car will be put sideways or how, and he won't be able to get over at all.
Citizens have reported that this was not the case in the past. More than a month ago, a barrier was installed on the sidewalk on the side of the bus station, and some e-bikes and shared bicycles that were originally parked on the sidewalk lost their parking space and began to park on the non-motorized lane, and the traffic became more and more congested.
Citizen: It's been a while, more than a month, and parking is even more inconvenient. In the past, you could park vertically (on the sidewalk), but now you can only park on the side of the road, and it is more inconvenient to walk back and forth.
Citizen: I didn't have it some time ago, but I got it recently. We didn't figure out that fence yet.
The reporter saw at the scene that the sidewalk area where the isolation guardrail was installed was located between the motorway and the non-motorized lane of the East Third Ring Road, about 100 meters, connecting to the overpass to the north and the Shuangjingqiao North Bus Station to the south. The 100-metre pedestrian space is enclosed by a barrier that allows pedestrians to pass between the flyover and the bus stop.
Fences fence off the pedestrian space / Photo by journalists
At the scene, there were occasional pedestrians passing through the guardrail, and a row of non-motorized vehicles parked on the side of the road outside the guardrail, many of which were electric bicycles of delivery people. In the past, they would park their e-bikes on the sidewalk, but after the guardrail was installed, there was no parking space, so many delivery workers parked their cars on the road.
Delivery man: To put it bluntly, where can this car be parked? It must be where he is close to it.
Delivery man: After installing this guardrail, I don't use it, because the cars are blocked.
Delivery man: This place is not good, this fence is really, definitely inconvenient.
Delivery workers do not want guardrails on sidewalks, and some pedestrians also feel that guardrails are unnecessary.
Pedestrian: It's a bit of a block. If you don't have this, it's okay to have a car with pedestrians, and there are fewer pedestrians.
Pedestrians: It's inconvenient, all pedestrians have to take this path.
There are also some citizens who believe that it is very reasonable to install guardrails to ensure the smooth passage of pedestrians.
Citizen: I think it's right to add guardrails, it's better to separate them this way. You see there are a lot of bicycles and takeaway trucks here, so you can avoid being hit.
Vehicles parked on non-motorized lanes obstruct traffic/Photo by reporters
Why did this section of the sidewalk area install the isolation guardrail not long ago? Did it take into account the parking problem of non-motorized vehicles? The reporter contacted the Shuangjing Sub-district Office of the territory, and Dou Ge, the person in charge of traffic of the Ping An Construction Office, briefed the reporter on the background before and after the installation of the isolation guardrail.
Dou Ge: In the past, there was parking in this place, and when I parked in the past, it did not affect pedestrian traffic. At the end of last year, on the north side of R&F Plaza, parking was no longer allowed in the places where parking could be parked, and parking was not allowed in the west properties for the convenience of management, so now all non-motorized vehicles are crowded to the sidewalks and the east side of the mall. When we went to the scene, we saw that there were three floors of cars parked on the sidewalk, and all the cars were parked inside, in the middle and outside (pedestrians had nowhere to go). Then there was a lot of [pedestrian appeals], and all of them demanded that I get off the bridge and walk to the station, and I have to be allowed to pass.
On the one hand, there is the pedestrian right of way, and on the other hand, there is the demand for non-motorized vehicle parking, Dou Ge said, both aspects must be taken into account and satisfied. The barrier will not be removed for the time being, but the street office has paid attention to the problems caused by the installation of the guardrail, and has coordinated with the relevant property owners to plan to restore and open up more non-motorized parking space on the north side of R&F Plaza, so as to fundamentally solve the traffic contradiction here.
Dou Ge: We have to return the road to the people, and if people want to go, we have to let people walk. But where does the car go while walking? We just want to find a place for them to park, so we're always docking. There are a total of three parking lots on the north side of the mall, which should be reasonably planned, so that everyone can park, and the property can't plan it by itself, so we can help with the planning. Dredging needs to be combined, and people still have to have a place to park.
Reporter|Editor: Lu Yao
Editor-in-Chief: Zhu Laisheng