Beijing to build and improve 3,200 km of bike-friendly roadways

Beijing said on Saturday that it will build and improve 3,200-kilometers of roads accessible to bicycles by 2020 to satisfy residents' demand and encourage environmentally-friendly travel.

The city finished improving and establishing more than 1,000 kilometers of roadways for bikes by the end of last year, and the goal in 2018 is to add 900 kilometers, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said at a press conference.

For example, a bike roadway from Tiantongyuan in Changping district, to Shangdi in Haidian district is being built "and we hope it can be used in September," said Rong Jun, the commission's spokesman.

The authority also will improve 138 roads around Tsinghua University and Zhongguancun, the capital's zone active with startups and innovations, in Haidian district this year, he said.

"In recent years, bike-sharing services have become popular among residents, which brought a boom in those going out by bike and raised new requirements for building roads for bikes," he said, adding that what the commission is doing is providing a safer environment for people riding bikes.