The planning plan for the southward extension of the Airport Second Expressway in Beijing has been publicized, and the extension will reach Beijing-Tianjin Expressway.

Regular commuters who frequently use the Airport Second Expressway know that the Pingfang Bridge, which connects the East Fifth Ring Road to the Airport Second Expressway, is a well-known congestion hotspot. Not only is the on-ramp to the expressway often gridlocked, but this bottleneck also frequently causes traffic jams to spill over onto the East Fifth Ring Road itself.

In the near future, the Airport Second Expressway will extend southward from a point east of Pingfang Bridge, running through the Jingtong Expressway, Guangqu Road, and the Beijing-Harbin Expressway before finally connecting to the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources has officially released for public review the "Comprehensive Implementation Plan for the Road Engineering of the Second Airport Corridor (Yaojiayuan Road - Beijing-Tianjin Expressway)". The full southern extension of the Airport Second Expressway will span 13.6 kilometers and is being constructed to full expressway standards.

The "Second Capital Airport Corridor" is the official name for what is commonly referred to as the "Second Capital Airport Expressway". It originally starts northward at Beijing Capital International Airport and ends southward at Yaojiayuan Road, just outside the East Fifth Ring Road. This expressway was first opened to traffic ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Over the more than 10 years since its opening, a huge volume of traffic has been accessing the Airport Second Expressway via the East Fifth Ring Road and Yaojiayuan Road, putting significant additional strain on the East Fifth Ring Road's already overburdened traffic network.

According to the officially published planning scheme, the southern extension of the Airport Second Expressway will start at Yaojiayuan Road in the north and terminate at the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway in the south, covering a total length of approximately 13.6 kilometers.

After the new southern segment diverges southward from Yaojiayuan Road (which lies outside the Fifth Ring Road), the route will traverse the Jingtong Expressway, Guangqu Road, and the Beijing-Harbin Expressway before finally linking up with the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway. Full interchange overpasses will be built at all junctions with these major expressways and arterial roads to enable smooth traffic diversion and minimize bottlenecks.

Once completed, this new route will not only give travelers heading to and from Capital Airport far more route options, but will also significantly reduce chronic traffic congestion on the East Fifth Ring Road.

In addition to the southern extension of the Airport Second Expressway, construction is currently well underway on the Liangmahe North Road project. This new road will stretch from the East Fourth Ring Road in the west all the way to the Second Capital Airport Expressway in the east, creating an entirely new dedicated access route to the Airport Second Expressway. Travel to and from the airport will only become more convenient as these infrastructure projects are finished.

This article is sourced from the WeChat public account "Jing Fang Zi", author: Jing Fang Zi, and is republished by 36Kr with official authorization.