SHENZHEN will see about 18 months of serious traffic congestion starting from the end of this year, caused by the construction of five Metro lines in five districts.

A total of 150 construction sites will be seen around the city along the planned Metro lines, affecting traffic on 24 main roads and at 37 intersections within the Special Economic Zone, according to a government announcement published in Chinese-language newspapers yesterday.

Meanwhile, 77 public bus routes will have to be changed to make way for Metro construction, the announcement said.

The construction of the extension of Metro Line 1, as well as four other lines is expected to start at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year, it said.

Vice Mayor Zhang Siping called for understanding and cooperation from residents during the period.

“The construction projects for five Metro lines starting at the same time will inevitably put substantial pressure on the city’s traffic, and make the roads more congested. However, the decision to do so is to divert traffic pressure to rail transport as soon as possible,” said Zhang.

Zhang and other government officials have urged motorists to avoid driving and use public transport as often as possible.

Shenzhen has the second-largest number of vehicles on the mainland, and the number is growing at 20 percent every year. “Traffic pressure in the city is increasingly heavy, making it more urgent to build more Metro lines,” said Zhang.

Zhang said the completion of the Metro lines will greatly ease traffic pressure in the city.

For example, after completion of the projects, travel time from Longgang and Bao’an districts to downtown Shenzhen will be shortened to 45 minutes.

But before that, Shenzhen residents will have to brace for worse traffic jams, with the traffic flows in affected areas expected to slow down by about 15 percent.

In Longgang and Bao’an districts, there will be 90 construction sites, affecting traffic on 41 roads and at 57 crossings.

All the Metro projects will be completed by 2011, when a total of 155 km of new Metro lines will be added to the existing Metro network of 22 km.

(Han Ximin)