Parallel Traffic Management for the 2010 Asian Games

One of the major challenges facing the 2010 Asian Games is the transportation problem. Because the games will use 58 existing game facilities and 12 new sports stadiums, which are located across the Guangzhou metropolitan areas (see Figure 1), safe and effective traffic control and transportation management will be essential to their success (see http://www.gz2010.cn/en/). The city already has a big issue with road congestion, caused mainly by the inadequate supply of transportation infrastructures. For example, between 2001 and 2008, the number of private passenger vehicles in Guangzhou increased 529 percent to 783 thousand, an annual increase of 26.9 percent. However, only 193.1 km are scheduled to be added to the total length of metropolitan road networks between 2007 and 2010, which is an increase of 5,528 km, a mere 3.6 percent. By 2010, the number of private passenger vehicles will increase to an estimated 1.261 million, but the space for new roads and transportation infrastructures is limited.1 Under such time and infrastructure constraints, Guangzhou has chosen intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to enhance and improve its traffic safety and efficiency for a better 2010 Asian Games.