Beijing Predicts Worsening Traffic Before 2008 Olympics

VOA News
January 22, 2007

China says Beijing's already snarled traffic situation is likely to get worse in the run up to the 2008 Olympics.

The official Xinhua news agency said Monday that Beijing registered more than 22,000 new vehicles in the first 18 days of this year.

Xinhua said the capital city already has more than 2,000,000 registered vehicles and more than 4,000,000 people have a drivers license. The paper said officials predict the number of cars is expected to reach over 3,000,000 by the 2008 Olympic Games.

Cars contribute to choking air pollution in major Chinese cities.

The government has urged people to use public transportation, but officials say it probably will not do much to help chronic traffic congestion.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.