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             Beijing's 4th Ring Road is to be linked up and open to traffic 
              by the end of coming June for its western section - West 4th Ring 
              Road, last part of the whole 4th Ring Road, was completed at 14:00 
              on May 13.  
            As reported, Beijing 4th Ring Road, which consists of four parts, 
              started construction at its eastern section - East 4th Ring Road 
              in October 1998 and as projected five years had originally been 
              planned to complete construction of the whole road. But by now, 
              the 4th Ring Road is to be completed more than two years ahead of 
              the schedule, in which the East 4th Ring Road was completed on August 
              28, 1999, southern section on September 21, 2000, and northern section 
              on November 11, 2000, respectively.  
            The 65-km long 4th Ring Road, designed with a maximum speed of 
              80-100 km/h, will play an important role in the whole of Beijing's 
              highway traffic net. On both sides of the 4th Ring Road, which has 
              eight driveways and urgent parking lots, are also 7-15m wide sub-roads 
              and 47 bridges having been built, of which 11 are large crossroads 
              on the Ring Road.  
            The 4th Ring Road to be completed will greatly alleviate the pressure 
              on Beijing's traffic and cut pollution from automobiles in the city 
              of Beijing.  
            (People's Daily 05/15/2001) 
               
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