The 6th Ring Road () is an expressway ring road in

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 ...

, China which runs around the city approximately from the center of the city. The 6th Ring Road is approximately long. The road is numbered G45₀₁ and as such is strictly speaking considered a peripheral segment of the G45 Daqing-Guangzhou Expressway. Thin full circle of the Sixth Ring Road was opened for regular traffic on 12 September 2009.

Route

The 6th Ring Road runs within the confines of the municipality of

. It is one of the most circular routes but still remarkably rectangular. Basic Route: Liuyuan Bridge - Liqiaozhen - Sanhui Bridge - Zhangjiawan - Majuqiao - Huangcun -

Liangxiang Liangxiang () is a township and an area of Beijing, Fangshan District, located 25km southwest of the city center. It borders Gongchen Subdistrict to its north, Changyang Town to its east, Doudian Town to its south, and Yancun Town to its west. I ...

Mentougou Mentougou District () is a district in western Beijing. Spanning , with 266,591 inhabitants (2000 Census), it is subdivided into 4 subdistricts of the city proper of Beijing and 9 towns (1 of which is a suburb of the city proper of Beijing). It bor ...

- Zhaikou/Wenquan - Xishatun - Gaoliying - Huosiying - Liuyuan Bridge It is on the outer fringes of Beijing, and even beyond

Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing Capital International Airport is one of two international airports serving Beijing, the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). It is located northeast of Beijing's city center, in an exclave of Chaoyang District ...

. The expressway ring road is the only one to link with the equally remote Tongyan Expressway.

History

As early as 2000 or 2001, the southeastern stretch from Sanhui Bridge (interchange with the

Jingha Expressway Jingha may refer to: * Jingha Expressway, expressway in China that links Beijing to Harbin *Jingha railway Jingha may refer to: * Jingha Expressway, expressway in China that links Beijing to Harbin * Jingha railway, railway in China that connects ...

) through to Majuqiao (interchange with the

Jingjintang Expressway Jingjintang Expressway (), also known as the Jingtang Expressway, links Beijing via central Tianjin to the Tanggu District in eastern Tianjin. 143 kilometres in length, it crosses the jurisdictions of Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and Hebei ...

) was put into operation. The route was first referred to as the projected 2nd Expressway Ring Road, much like the

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, ...

was once referred to as the 1st Expressway Ring Road; however, that name was abandoned in favour of the present-day 6th Ring Road. By 2002, a road section starting in Xishatun (interchange with the

Badaling Expressway The Badaling Expressway (Simplified Chinese: 八达岭高速公路, Traditional Chinese: 八達嶺高速公路, Hanyu Pinyin: Bādálíng Gāosù Gōnglù) is an expressway in China which links urban Beijing to the Badaling stretch of the Great ...

) through to Sanhui Bridge, as well as a stretch from Majuqiao through to Huangcun/Shuangyuan Bridge (interchange with the Jingkai Expressway), were complete and opened to the general public. Another 43 km of the expressway ring road opened behind schedule (the portion linking it up with the

Jingshi Expressway "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

and ultimately ending in

in December 2004 and the section from the

to Wenquan/Zhaikou in

in early January 2005). They were slated for a November 2004 opening. In the first case, the expressway was opened on December 20, 2004, at 14:00 local time, with over a month's delay. The entire road was opened in 2010.

Road conditions

Speed limit

The minimum speed limit of 50 km/h, maximum 100 km/h, throughout. Potential speed checks at Zhangjiawan and 500 metres to the east of Yongdingmen/Langfang exit; otherwise, none. It is not rare for passenger cars to zip well in excess of that speed limit, while to see lorries underperform in speed. Southwestern 6th Ring Road: carriageway-separated; note: there are no "overtaking lanes" on this part of the ring road; left lane, maximum speed limit 100 km/h, minimum 80 km/h, designated "car only"; right lane, maximum speed limit 100 km/h, minimum 60 km/h, designated "carriageway".

Tolls

CNY 0.5/km, minimum charge of CNY 5, based on price for a small passenger vehicle. There have been (a few) calls to eradicate ''all'' toll gates within the confines of, and including, the 6th Ring Road. However, little to no action has been taken on this matter.
The 6th Ring Road is linked with Jingshi, Jingcheng, and Jingkai Expressways toll systems.

Lanes

4 lanes (2 in each direction) throughout.

Surface conditions

Generally excellent.

Traffic conditions

The traffic is usually very smooth; however, on weekends, tourists flock to suburban districts causing occasional traffic jams. The exit at Baige Bridge is also usually jammed due to heavy police presence at the exit. Car crashes also cause rare traffic jams.

Major exits

Xishatun, Gaoliying, Sanhui Bridge, Zhangjiawan, Majuqiao, Huangcun/Shuanghui Bridge, Liuyuan Bridge

Service areas

None; Beihuofa Service Area is projected (E. 6th Ring Road), as is a gas station on the Southwestern 6th Ring Road

Connections

* S32

Jingping Expressway S32 Jingping Expressway () is an Expressways of China, expressway in Beijing, China. Construction stages Construction started in early 2005, with a stretch opened by 2006. By 2007, the entire expressway was completed in full. The expressway is h ...

: Liqiaozhen. * China National Highway 102 (Tongyan Expressway): Sanhui Bridge. *

G1 Beijing–Harbin Expressway The Beijing–Harbin Expressway (), designated as G1 and commonly abbreviated as Jingha Expressway () is an expressway linking the cities of Beijing and Harbin, Heilongjiang. The Beijing–Harbin Expressway is commonly referred to as th ...

: Zhangjiawan. *

: Majuqiao. *

G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway The Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway (), designated as G45 and commonly referred to as the Daguang Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Daqing, Heilongjiang, and Guangzhou, Guangdong. When fully complete, it will be in length. ...

: Huangcun, Shuangyuan Bridge, Gaoliying. *

G4 Beijing–Hong Kong and Macau Expressway The Beijing–Hong Kong and Macau Expressway (), designated as G4 and commonly referred to as the Jinggang'ao Expressway () is a -long expressway that connects the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, at the border wit ...

: Liyuan Bridge. *

: Xishatun.

Vast distances

At a distance of 20 kilometres from the centre of town, the expressway covers a much larger distance than the inner ring roads. Equally large is the distance between two points. For example, the distance between

Jingtong Expressway Jingtong () is a locale in Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Originally a coal mining town, today it is known mostly for tourism, with numerous souvenir shops and exhibits on the history of the area and the coal mining industry. Touri ...

Jingshen Expressway Jingshen Seafood Market or Chingshen Seafood Market (JSM; ) is a marketplace in the Fengtai district of Beijing. Synopsis As with other marketplaces in China, wholesale and retail trade are both seen here, as well as restaurants. Jingshen is the ...

is approximately 2 kilometres on the 4th Ring Road. It expands to nearly 4 kilometres on the

. On the 6th Ring Road, 10 kilometres elapse from one expressway to the other—and the Jingtong to Jingshen Expressway (on the 6th Ring Road, the Jingha to Jingshen Expressway) is one of the shortest distances between expressways in Beijing. Anything up to 30 - 35 kilometres can lapse between the

Jingcheng Expressway Jingcheng may refer to: * Xu Jingcheng (許景澄) (1845–1900), Qing Dynasty diplomat *Jingcheng (竟成), a pseudonym of educator Kong Zhaoshou *Jingcheng, a name for Beijing's inner city * Jingcheng, Nanjing County, Zhangzhou (靖城镇), a tow ...

and the Jingha Expressway. For most people, travel on the 6th Ring Road is extremely rare. Although, strictly speaking, it is still on the perimeters of city limits, this is one massive ring road for a motorist to travel around.

List of exits

Symbols: ↗ = exit (↩ = exit present only heading clockwise, ↪ = anticlockwise); ✕ = closed exit; ⇆ = main interchange; ¥ = central toll gate; S = service area; Listed are exits heading clockwise from northwestern starting point at Xishatuan

Northern 6th Ring Road

* ✕ ''Road further west (NW) blocked by portion under construction'' * ⇆ 46: ''(Interchange with

)'' Qinghe, Changping * ✕ 47: Beijing Higher Education Park * ↗ 49:

Baishan Baishan (, ko, 백산시) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jilin province, in the Dongbei (northeastern) part of China. "" literally means "White Mountain", and is named after Changbai Mountain (, also known as Paektu Mountain (Kor ...

, Shahe * ↗ 51: Beiyuan, Xiaotangshan, Mafang * ⇆ 52: ''(Interchange with

)''

Miyun Miyun District () is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 460,800 (2010 Census). Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict. History Miyun was one of the places where Warlord Feng Yuxiang s ...

, Laiguangying * ↗ 53: Huoshenying, Sishang

Eastern 6th Ring Road

* ⇆ 1: ''(Interchange with

China National Highway 101 China National Highway 101 is a major trunk route connecting Beijing to Shenyang, Liaoning. In Beijing it is known as Jingshun Road () or Jingmi Road () for connecting central Beijing to Shunyi District and Miyun District, although the actual ...

)'' Jingmi Road * ↗ 3: Nanfaxin,

Shunyi Shunyi District () is an administrative district of Beijing, located to the northeast of the city's urban core. As of 2014, the population of the district is around 983,000, of which approximately 601,000 have local residency permits. The Beiji ...

* ↗ 4:

South Ring Road * ↗ 6: Liqiaozhen * ↗ 7: (↪) * ↗ 8: Tuanli * ⇆ 9: ''(Interchange with

)'' Harbin,

* ↗ 10: * ↗ 11:

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 ...

, Tongzhou * ↗ 12: (↪)

* ⇆ 13: ''(Interchange with

)'' Shenyang,

* ↗ 14: Ciqu, Shibalidian * ⇆ 15: ''(Interchange with

)''

, Majuqiao

Southern 6th Ring Road

* ↗ 18:

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 ...

Yongdingmen Yongdingmen (), literally meaning “Gate of Perpetual Peace”, was the former front gate of the outer city of Beijing's old city wall. Originally built in 1553 during Ming Dynasty, it was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the new road syst ...

* ↗ 19: (↩) Weishanzhuang * ⇆ 20: ''(Interchange with Jingkai Expressway)'' Jingkai Expressway * ↗ 23: Huangcun * ↗ 24: Beizangcun, Lucheng * ✕ ''Gas station—under projection'' * ↗ 26: Yaoshang, Changyang * ↗ 27:

, Guandao * ⇆ 29: ''(Interchange with

)''

Western 6th Ring Road

* ↗ 31: Yanshan,

* ✕ ''Remainder of Western 6th Ring Road is under projection''

References

{{NTHS Expressways Road transport in Beijing Ring roads in China Expressways in China