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The Jingshi Expressway (京石高速公路, Hanyu Pinyin: Jīngshí Gāosù Gōnglù; or Jingshi Freeway, as it was formerly known) is an expressway in China which links Beijing to the Shijiazhuang. It is c. 270 km in length. Its road numbering is G030.
Opened in full in 1993, the expressway runs in a southwest direction, linking the capital of China with the capital of Hebei province.
The Jingshi Expressway gets its name by the combination of two one-character Chinese abbreviations of both Beijing and Shijiazhuang (Beijing -- Jing, Shijiazhuang -- Shi).
The expressway starts from Liuliqiao on the southwestern 3rd Ring Road, passes through the 4th Ring Road at Yuegezhuang, and then approaches a heavily industrialised area, the Xidaokou area near Shougang. On the way out of Beijing, one passes through the famous Luguoqiao area - home to the Marco Polo Bridge and Wanping, marking where the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937.
The Dujiakan toll gate (for the Beijing stretch) follows after a bridge crossing what used to be a vast Yongding River. (Sadly, it has now apparently dried up.) After the toll gate, the expressway links to roads connecting to Fangshan District and Liangxiang satellite town. By the end of 2004, there will be a link to the 6th Ring Road after the Yancun exit; this connection is under construction as we speak.
The expressway also links Beijing to the Zhoukoudian Peking Man cave, as well as Yunju Temple.
The Beijing portion of the expressway ends after the Liulihe exit (Exit No. 18). Maps incorrectly point out that the final exit in the Beijing portion ends at Doudian (Exit No. 16 leaving Beijing, Exit No. 17 entering Beijing). Before the Beijing portion ends, a service area appears. A toll gate follows just outside of city/municipality limits.
The Hebei portion of the expressway starts right before the Beijing South Toll Gate. As of the Hebei portion (strictly speaking, as of just before the Beijing portion ends), the expressway shrinks from 6 lanes (3 up, 3 down) to 4 lanes (2 up, 2 down). The large "lawn" in the middle of the expressway separate the two sets of carriageways going in different directions is no more as of the Hebei portion.
Some distance after the toll gate when entering Hebei, a service area appears as well.
The naming of the very expressway gets confusing after one enters the Hebei portion. The expressway toll invoices claim the Jingshi Expressway. However, entrance signs welcome drivers onto the Jingshen Expressway (heading toward Shenzhen, not Shenyang). Yet, the smaller signs indicating the kilometrage announces the expressway as the Jingzhu Expressway heading toward Zhuhai.
Claimed as the first completed expressway in mainland China, construction began in April of 1986 and was completed in segments, culminating eventually in November of 1993, although the Beijing section was opened around the start of the 1990s.
As one leaves Beijing on the expressway from the Southwestern 3rd Ring Road at Liuliqiao, one enters into what is apparantly one of the oldest expressways in the area. Road conditions reveal the age of expressway. Signs are nonstandard, exit numbering looks erratic, and often English is lacking on the road signs (in contrast to other expressways around Beijing). Arabic numbers on the signposts, more often than not, appear deformed or stretched.
Except for a short part of the road from Dujiakan to Zhaoxindian, there is virtually no hard corner to speak of. Cars in need must be driven to the next emergency bay, which -- fortunately -- is plentiful along the way.
Beijing Section: 90 km/h from Liuliqiao through to Dujiakan Toll Gate; 110 km/h from Dujiakan Toll Gate through to the border with Hebei. Hebei Section: Uniform maximum speed limit of 120 km/h.
The section southwest of the SW 5th Ring Road (Beijing) charges tolls. There are toll gates at Dujiakan (Beijing), South Beijing, and at Shijiazhuang.
There is currently no networked toll system -- one pays upon entering a different jurisidiction. However, an IC-card system is, apparently, on the drawing board.
Beijing Section: 6 lanes (3 up, 3 down) uniformly. Exception: Dujiankan Toll Gate - July of 2004, one of the oddest features of this expressway's Beijing segment was that, at times, there was no central physical structure -- not even a barrier -- to separate the carriageways running in opposite directions in the Beijing portion. (This made it potentially insecure in the case of a car crash from the carriageways running in the opposite direction, and made it possible to do a complete U-turn on the expressway -- something that's against the expressway management regulations.) Relief came by the end of July 2004, when the entire Beijing segment was fitted with a central barrier.
Good. Smooth and flowing.
3rd Ring Road, 4th Ring Road, 5th Ring Road, Yancun, Doudian, Zhuozhou, Dingxing, Baoding, Shijiazhuang
At least one service area in Beijing; more in the Hebei section.
Ring Roads of Beijing: Connects with the SW 3rd Ring Road at Liuliqiao, the SW 4th Ring Road at Yuegezhuang, the SW 5th Ring Road at Wanping, and the SW 6th Ring Road at Yancun (by the end of 2004).
Baojin Expressway: Connects with the Baojin Expressway near Baoding (just north of it).
Shitai Expressway: Connects with the Shitai Expressway to Taiyuan (Shanxi province]] at Shijiazhuang (heading west).
Cangzhou (near the Bohai Gulf) at Shijiazhuang (heading east).
Anyang and Zhengzhou (Henan province) at Shijiazhuang (heading south).
[Heading southwest, gradually south]
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