Jingjintang Expressway (), also known as the Jingtang Expressway, links

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

via central

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

to the

Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Devel ...

in eastern Tianjin. 143 kilometres in length, it crosses the jurisdictions of

and

municipalities and

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

province. Tolls apply as of Dayangfang near the Eastern

5th Ring Road Beijing's 5th Ring Road (, China Road Numbering: S50 (Beijing) is a ring road encircling the city about away from the city centre. It takes the form of an expressway and is in length. Being a ring road, it has no natural start or end point, ...

in Beijing until the

Tanggu Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Develo ...

/ TEDA exit. The expressway uses a networked toll system across all jurisdictions and is managed by Huabei (North China) Expressways. This route is now part of China_Expwy_G2_sign_no_name

G2 Beijing–Shanghai Expressway The Beijing–Shanghai Expressway designated as G2 and commonly abbreviated as Jinghu Expressway is a major expressway of China, linking the capital Beijing in the north to Shanghai on the central coast. It extends 1262 kilometres in length, and ...

and Tianjin Tianjin_Expwy_S40_sign_no_name

(

) expressway.

Route

The Jingjintang Expressway runs through the municipalities of

and

, as well as

province.

(

Fenzhongsi Fenzhongsi () in Beijing. It is the starting point of the Jingjintang Expressway to Langfang, Tianjin and Tanggu, and has been served by Fenzhongsi station of the Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing ...

- Shibalidian - Dayangfang - Majuqiao - Caiyu) -

Langfang Langfang () is a prefecture-level city of Hebei Province, which was known as Tianjin Prefecture until 1973. It was renamed Langfang Prefecture after Tianjin became a municipality and finally upgraded into a prefecture-level city in 1988. Lang ...

(

) -

( Yangcun - Central Tianjin - Tianjin Airport -

/ TEDA).

History

The expressway opened on September 25, 1993, and was the first express to be built to more recent standards. This expressway has slashed driving time from Beijing to Tianjin to around one hour, and has created a corridor between Beijing and Tianjin.

Accidents

Areas of the expressway are many times very foggy and that has led to a number of accidents. Jingjintang Expwy Tanggu Start

On October 19, 2004, seven vehicles involved in three accidents plunged into each other in early morning fog, killing two and injuring many more on the stretch of expressway from Beijing to Tianjin, at the stretch between Majuqiao and Caiyu.

Parallel Expressways

With a history of over ten years, the expressway was beginning to feel the crunch of massive traffic, especially the increase of heavy lorries. As a result, at least two other expressways linking Beijing to Tianjin were constructed. A variation of routes leaves Beijing heading toward Pinggu District, and links with the Jinji Expressway.

Road Conditions

Speed Limit

Uniform maximum speed limit of 110 km/h (sparsely signposted at times) outside of Beijing; Beijing section now only 90 km/h. However, the

section from

through Shibalidian has a mixed speed limit of 70 km/h or 80 km/h (only when leaving Beijing).

Tolls

Tolls apply for the stretch east of Dayangfang until

Lanes

4 lanes (2 up, 2 down), with emergency shoulders. ''Exception:'' Section in

(

- Shibalidian) has 6 lanes (3 up, 3 down).

Major Exits

, Dayangfang, Majuqiao, Caiyu,

, Yangcun, Yixingbu, Central

Airport,

Service Areas

Majuqiao, Xuguantun, Dongli.

Connections

Ring Roads of Beijing: Connects with the SW 3rd Ring Road at

, the SW 4th Ring Road at Shibalidian, the SW

at Dayangfang and the SW 6th Ring Road at Majuqiao.
Jinghu Expressway: Connects with the Jinghu Expressway at Yixingbu.
Jinji Expressway: Connects with the newly opened Jinji Expressway at Central

exit (Jinzhong Road).
Tianjin Outer Ring Road: Connects at Yixingbu.

Safety

Upon its completion, the PRC authorities and state media spared the least of efforts in trumpeting the creation of the Jingjintang Expressway, promoting it to the bitter end, and creating an illusion that the expressway was ''it'' in the PRC's expressway world. As a result of this widespread promotion, the expressway was known as the "golden expressway". In November 2004, however, things looked very different. Incessant traffic jams, breakdowns, and chaos on the expressway earned it a more popular nickname—the "road of death". The very problem lies within the expressway itself—massive traffic. The expressway was designed for a traffic audience of 50,000 vehicles a day—and apparently, not a vehicle more, as the current average of 59,000 vehicles a day is stretching the expressway to its limits. Meanwhile, during periods of high use, 130,000 vehicles are reported to be using the expressway -- ''per day''. Compounding the problem is a very narrow (2.4 m in width)

hard shoulder A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wide ...

, and the lack of emergency bays. Compound that with fog in the southeastern Beijing section, and no lights at night outside of the

4th Ring Road (Beijing) The 4th Ring Road () is a controlled-access expressway ring road in Beijing, China which runs around the city, with a radius of approximately from city centre. The total length of the road is . There are 147 bridges and viaducts that run the le ...

, and one understands why the label "road of death" sticks so well to the expressway today.

Traffic

China was a different country back in 1993, when the expressway first opened. For a start, there were fewer drivers, and traffic—especially expressway traffic—was less of a problem. Therefore, when the expressway opened in September 1993, it could cope rather well with just two lanes in one direction—for over a hundred kilometres. Things changed in the late 1990s. Private citizens could apply for driver's licences with greater ease, and traffic as a whole increased on PRC roads. The situation on the expressway in 2004, therefore, is different from that of 1993. A 2004 traffic jam—or traffic disturbance—that upset just one lane (not to mention more than one lane), would upset the entire expressway. Traffic would begin to pile up for kilometres and hours on end. The relative lack of exits (only ten for the entire stretch) could further compound the problem. As it forms a vital corridor for traffic from

and

, the expressway is often full of lorries. Two lorries overtaking each other would shrink average speed limits for the car following behind considerably—from the legal 110 km/h down to approximately 80 km/h or sometimes even 60 km/h.

List of exits

Symbols: ↗ = exit (→ = only on way out of Beijing), ✕ = closed exit, ⇆ = main interchange; ¥ = central toll gate; S = service area

Beijing Section

Listed are exits heading southeast as of Beijing (3rd Ring Road) * ⇆ ''(Interchange with 3rd Ring Road)''

* ⇆ ''(Interchange with 4th Ring Road)'' Nansihuan (S. 4th Ring Road) * ✕ 2: Dayangfang,

Jiugong Jiugong () is an area in northern Daxing District, Beijing, located just inside the 5th Ring Road. It borders Huaxiang and Nanyuan Subdistircts to its north and west, Xiaohongmen and Yizhuang Towns to its east, as well as Yinghai and Xihongmen Tow ...

'' -- exit disused as of 2002 and in effect replaced by

'' * ⇆ ''(Interchange with

)''

* ¥ Dayangfang * S Majuqiao * ⇆ 3: Majuqiao, Liuhuanlu * ⇆ 4: ''(Interchange with

China National Highway 104 China National Highway 104 (G104) runs from Beijing to Pingtan via Jinan, Xuzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Taizhou and Fuzhou. It runs to approximately 2606 km, and, on a map, runs southeast towards Nanjing and Hangzhou before turning south-sout ...

)'' G104, Caiyu

Hebei Section

Listed are exits heading southeast as of the jurisdictional boundary with Beijing * ↗ 5:

Tianjin Section

Listed are exits heading southeast as of the jurisdictional boundary with Hebei/Tianjin (Wuqing District) * ⇆ 7: ''(Interchange with

China National Highway 103 China National Highway 103 (G103) is the main traffic corridor between Beijing and Tianjin. It goes from Tongzhou Beijing to Tianjin and then to the coastal area of Binhai on the outskirts of Tianjin, and runs to approximately 163 km. This ...

)''

Hexiwu Hexiwu Town (), formerly known as Ho-Hsi-Wu, is a Towns of China, town situated on the northern part of Wuqing District, Tianjin, China. It borders Yongledian and Anping, Xianghe County, Anping Towns to the north, Qiantun Township and Xiawuqi, X ...

, Yangcun ( G103) * S Xuguantun * ⇆ 8: ''(Interchange with Tianjin Outer Ring Road)'' Yixingbu * ⇆ 9: ''(Interchange with Jinji Expressway)'' Lutai,

City * ''↗''

Airport * S Dongli * ⇆ ''(Interchange with Tangjin Expressway)'' * ¥ Tanggu * ↗

References

{{coord, 39.2271, N, 117.2063, E, source:wikidata, display=title Expressways in China Road transport in Beijing Transport in Hebei Road transport in Tianjin