Qingming Festival is coming, and traffic headaches with it

Get ready for worse traffic from late March with Qingming Festival on its way, the city's civil affairs authorities warned on Friday. 

Qingming Festival, falling on April 5 this year, is the traditional time for Chinese people to pay respects to their deceased ancestors.

A total of 6.42 million people are expected to visit the city’s 44 cemeteries and 10 columbariums between March 30 and April 7, bringing an extra 836,000 vehicles onto the streets, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. 

The number of tomb sweepers and extra vehicles will pose an increase of 7.1 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, from the same period last year, according to the bureau. 

About 10,500 urns are expected to be interred during the nine-day period, a rise of 4.1 percent.

Free toll admission on highways during the Qingming Festival holiday, and the combination of tomb sweepers and people undertaking spring outings, will bring huge pressure to highways and around cemeteries in the city, and severe congestion is likely in some areas, traffic police said. 

The peak days will be March 30 and 31, and April 5, 6 and 7, with 5.19 million people expected to visit local tombs, bringing an extra 690,000 vehicles onto the roads, according to the bureau. The peak hours will last from 8am to 11:30am during the five days. 

The extreme peak will be April 5, the day of Qingming and the first day of the holiday, when 2.34 million people are expected to visit cemeteries with an extra 305,000 vehicles on the roads. More than 7,000 urns will be interred on that day.

The Pudong New Area, Jiading and Qingpu districts will record the largest number of tomb sweepers and vehicles because they have a large number of cemeteries, according to police. 

Expressways and main trunk lines, including the S2, S4, G50, S5, G1501, Huaxia Elevated Road, Tanglu Road, Zhufeng Highway, Hunan Highway, Jiasong Road N., Yueluo Road and Xinsiping Highway will see heavy congestion throughout the period, police warned.

Songhe Cemetery in Jiading, Baoluomingyuan Cemetery in Baoshan, Binhaiguyuan Cemetery in Fengxian and Xianhe Cemetery in Minhang are likely to see the largest number of tomb sweepers, more than 200,000 each during the period, the bureau said.

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

The city’s 44 cemeteries and 10 columbariums received about 1.75 million urns by the end of last year.