The BRT project in Dongshan Avenue will start a trial operation on July 15th,a beginning of  of Yichang’s BRT time. Although  citizens who are closely concerned the project  recognized fully the city’s “Bus Priority” strategy, they were still confused about Dongshan Avenue’s position as the first BRT location in Yichang. Thus when questioned by reporters,  the person in charge of the headquarter explained that the construction of the BRT project marked the city’s important step of  transportation planning as well as the beginning of  the city’s green and sustainable public transportation development.

　　It’s feasible to construct the first BRT corridor on Dongshan Avenue.

　　Firstly, as “the key traffic route” of the city, Dongshan Avenue runs through Yiling, Xiling and Wujiagang districts. Therefore, the construction is taxing as the administrative, commercial and residential districts, with long route, dense population and high-density traffic flow, are highly concentrated on the avenue. Why is the first BRT corridor constructed on the Dongshan Avenue instead of others? According to Chen Junsong, the chief engineer of Yichang Urban Construction Investment Holding Group, though the task is arduous, Dongshan Avenue was still selected as the location for the BRT corridor because of the following three reasons. Firstly, according to the city development and spatial distribution, the first BRT corridor should be oriented south and north to run through the whole city and thus achieve the fast transfer between the south and north passenger flows. Furthermore, as Dongshan Avenue is in the border of the urban spatial expansion, it’s beneficial for the improvement of the north-south transportation while not separating the city’s internal transportation. However, the other three main avenues which parallel Dongshan Avenue can’t get the linear programming as their own functional orientations and conditional restrictions, for instance, Chengdong Avenue is the city’s important freight corridor, Yiling Avenue isn’t wide enough to accommodate the extension of BRT lanes and Yanjiang Avenue only has the unilateral passenger flow.

　　  Secondly, according to the city’s current transportation investigation and the passenger flow prediction, about 51% of the city’s populations go out through Dongshan Avenue, the service bus lines along the avenue account for over 55% of all the city’s bus lines and the average daily ridership accounts for over 60% of that in the whole city. Lastly, except Yemingzhu Road and the partial section of Yixing Avenue in Dongshan Avenue’s BRT corridor (Yixing Avenue--Yemingzhu Road--Dongshan Avenue--Jucheng Road), the rest parts of Dongshan Avenue all satisfy the conditions to construct the BRT lines.

　　   According to Chen Junsong, currently the mode proportion of the city’s private and official cars is about 8% and the public transport split rate 21.90%, while the sedan cars whose mode proportion is only 8% occupies over 60% road resources.

　　Combining with the reconstruction and expansion of Dongshan Avenue, after repeated scientific evaluations of the first BRT construction on Dongshan Avenue,  Yichang Municipal Committee and Government decided to  construct NO. 1  BRT line on Dongshan Avenue which is a model BRT line  with the world most  advanced ideas, the outcome of Asian Development Bank’s advocating, and  the specific embodiment of the Municipal Committee and government’s efforts to attract investments and talents.

　　BRT corridor will improve the comprehensive functions of the areas along Dongshan Avenue

　　 “The BRT project is a livelihood project with low cost, quick and big returns as it’s beneficial for the elevating of the city’s traffic service level, the relieving of the city’s traffic congestion and the improvement of the citizens’ transportation environment.” said Duan Xiaomei, the chief engineer of Guangzhou municipal engineering design office. He explained that we can implement the BRT project, combine the modern bus technology with operations management, provide the bus lanes and independent bus stations as well as emphasize the policy of bus priority to alleviate  traffic jam and delay problems caused by  mixed traffic system, increase the operational efficiency of the roads and intersections, save the trip cost, trip space and drive the development of the areas along the BRT corridor.

　　  The successful BRT operation examples both home and abroad prove that the opening of BRT will elevate the value of the areas along BRT corridor. Furthermore, the speed integration of BRT, Yichang East Railway Station and the inter-city bus stations can be achieved to shorten the distance between the rural and urban areas and boost the city’s development.

　　  In fact, the construction of BRT in Dongshan Avenue is not merely “+BRT” but “BRT+”. According to Chen Junsong, there are many factors hindering the development of the city’s transportation and the economy along the BRT line areas, which includes 60% of breakage rate in the old Dongshan Avenue and the rusted pipelines along the avenue. The road reconstruction and  BRT construction confirmed by Yichang Municipal Committee and Government is the “Trinity” comprehensive renovation project which integrates the underground pipeline, the surface road and the elevation landscape as well as the system engineering which combines the BRT construction with the road landscape.

　　In other words, after more than one year’s construction, what should be demonstrated to the citizens is not only a BRT lane but also a brand new international landscape avenue.

　　   According to Chen Junsong, the BRT project, which is constructed with the idea of “green trip” and “people-oriented”, has adopted the international standard. It is the BRT project which has the longest single line, the shortest station spacing with the largest number of  bus stations, and the most construction difficulty  as well as the first comprehensive reconstruction project of the urban traffic in the city’s history.

　　  The BRT project in Dongshan Avenue is expected to reach a passenger flow volume of over 500 thousand person-times, the entire running time will be shortened from 92minutes to 59 minutes and the social vehicles will be accelerated by 20% to 30%. Meanwhile, as the BRT system has achieved the multi-mode integration, it will not only provide the citizens with more convenient and rapid bus service but also enable Dongshan Avenue become the most beautiful scenery line in Yichang. (Reporter: Xiao Min Correspondent: Deng Tao)