On August 15, the BRT bus rapid lane was under construction. The picture shows the construction site of No. 1 Xiling Road to No. 2 Xiling Road of Dongshan Avenue.
　　Project Profile: Yichang Dongshan Avenue reconstruction and BRT construction project symbolizes the beginning of building an efficient and sustainable transport system for Yichang. The project starts from Long-distance Bus Station of Yiling District to East Railway Station of Wujiagang District, passing through three main urban districts including Yiling District, Xiling District and Wujiagang District with a total length of 23.9 km. Having been initiated on February 25 this year, the construction is expected to have its trial run in the June of next year. The BRT is designed to have a passenger capacity of more than 500,000 people a day. Upon completion, the total number of the existing buses will be reduced by more than 50 and the average operating speed will be doubled. The travel time from the Long-distance Bus Station of Yiling District in the northwest Yichang to the East Railway Station in the eastern Yichang will decrease from the current 92 minutes to 59 minutes and the average travel time of the citizens will be cut down from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.
　　The cable trenches have already been built and arranged neatly on the side of the roadbed. At the same time, the station foundation has already been built, and the workers are now paving the road with rubble. At 9:00 on August 15, having walked into the BRT construction site of Dongshan Avenue, the reporter witnessed that the workers were busy with construction.
　　A person in charge of the construction, dark-skinned due to too much exposure to the scorching sun, told the reporter that the grouting for hand-dug piles of pedestrian bridge of No. 4 Shengli Road has been completed and the rainwater pipe installation was 80% complete. At the end of this month, the other side of the road will be under construction and then the station will look more beautiful!
　　At the reconstruction site of Wanshouqiao, the rotary drills were drilling. Liu Hui, the technician who was concentrating on measurement, put down the measuring rope and said to the reporter: “Of 48 piles in Wanshouqiao, 26 piles have already been completed.” Behind him, the workers were busy grouting the piles and pre-casting hollow beams so that the bridge begins to take shape.
　　At 11:40am, the reporter took a taxi, and the driver said: “Previously, the city would suffer from traffic jam during peak hours. We all thought that we would suffer traffic jam since the BRT project, but the Dongshan Avenue has the most smooth traffic flow on the contrary. "The reporter noted that, under the coordination of the traffic police, the traffic on every intersection of Dongshan Avenue that is being partly closed was actually good, without long-time traffic jam at all.
　　At Yunji intersection, a senior citizen, who was taking photos of the construction scene, told the reporter: “As Dongshan Avenue is a long main road of Yichang with complex underground pipeline network, it is really difficult do construction work on it. But the project has been progressing so quickly. What is more, it has well balanced the relationship between the construction speed, the daily life of citizens and good traffic. ” Every day, he goes to work on foot along Dongshan Avenue and records every progress of the BRT project with the camera.
　　Dongshan Avenue construction section of BRT is a major livelihood project for solving the traffic problems of Yichang, reflecting that the municipal government persists in taking life quality improvement and environment protection as prerequisites when making the economic and social development plan for the city. The total investment of the project is 1.297 billion yuan, of which $100 million was loaned from the Asian Development Bank.
　　According to a person in charge of the BRT construction, the BRT will go through a comprehensive restructure from the ground, the underground and the air, and the Dongshan Avenue will be a street with distinctive features and beautiful scenery. When completed, the BRT will reduce the traffic pressure and elevate the outing quality of the Yichang citizens by improving the transportation capacity, integrating the green transportation mode of walking and biking, improving the city scenery and enlarging public space. Through the effective connection with Yichang East Railway Station, it will initiate the urban functional design, enhance the sustainable development of the urban area, and the overall competitive strength of the city.
　　The delegation from the Asian Development Bank gave their thumbs up to Yichang’s BRT for its fast construction when they came to inspect it. Experts said that the BRT in Yichang is the best case of the BRT sustainable transportation project, which has set a good example for many other developing countries.
　　The BRT of Yichang will be officially in operation in June, 2015, leading Yichang’s transportation to a new era of effective and sustainable transportation system. It will also contribute to the construction of a megacity of “being large and strong, excellent and beautiful” and witness the coming of a renewed city fit for living. (Reporter: Xiao Min; Correspondent: Deng Tao)