Leave the car at home this dongzhi

Traffic could be bad between December 15 and 23 as people visit cemeteries to celebrate dongzhi, the winter solstice, according to Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau yesterday.

Winter solstice, like Qingming Festival, is a time for Chinese people to pay their respects to their ancestors.

More than 2 million people are expected to visit the city’s 44 cemeteries and 10 columbariums during the nine-day period, bringing an extra 274,000 vehicles onto the streets, leading to serious congestion, said Wang Liangyong, deputy director of the funeral and interment department of the bureau.

The peak days will be December 15, 16, 22 and 23. Expressways leading to cemeteries in Jiading, Qingpu, Baoshan, Pudong and Fengxian may be jammed.

The extreme peak will be between 8am and 11:30am on dongzhi, December 22, when 1 million people are expected to visit cemeteries with an extra 130,000 vehicles on the roads. Close to 14,000 urns will be interred on that day.

Shuttle buses will carry people between Metro stations and cemeteries to relieve traffic pressure, and cemeteries will host group burials and other commemorative events on non-peak days.