The 3rd Ring Road is a 48-kilometre city ring road

Ring Roads of Beijing

Beijing is one of the very few cities to possess multiple ring roads .-1st Ring Road:The 1st Ring Road no longer exists under that name. In the 1920s, around half a dozen routes were established in Beijing for the first tram lines of the city...

 that encircles the centre of the city of Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

.

When Beijing first became the capital of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, the road existed only in segments encircling the northern, eastern, and southern parts of the city. At the time, it was known as Beihuan (North Ring), Donghuan (East Ring), and Nanhuan (South Ring). The 3rd Ring Road was finally finished in 1994 with the completion of the western segment. There are 52 flyovers, including Sanyuanqiao, which links it to the Airport Expressway

Airport Expressway (Beijing)

The Airport Expressway is an expressway in Beijing, China, which links central Beijing to the Beijing Capital International Airport...

. The speed limit is a uniform 80 km/h.

The ring road runs through the busy CBD section in the east through Panjiayuan and Fenzhongsi, linking up with the Jingjintang Expressway

Jingjintang Expressway

Opened in September 1993, the Jingjintang Expressway , also known as the Jingtang Expressway, links Beijing via central Tianjin to the Tanggu District in eastern Tianjin...

. It continues south toward Muxiyuan and Yuquanying

Yuquanying

Yuquanying is a major traffic intersection in Beijing, linking the Jingkai Expressway with the southern part of the 3rd Ring Road. It is accessible via a connection road from Caihuying on the 2nd Ring Road....

, linking up with the Jingkai Expressway

Jingkai Expressway

The Jingkai Expressway is an expressway in China which links Beijing to Kaifeng. At present, it is approximately 40 km in length in the Beijing section....

. It then proceeds west, linking up with the Jingshi Expressway

Jingshi Expressway

The Jingshi Expressway is an expressway in China which links Beijing to the Shijiazhuang. It is c. 270 km in length. Its road numbering is G030...

 before running into the western segment, which is linked with the Wukesong residential area, TV broadcasting centres, and, in the northwest, Zhongguancun

Zhongguancun

Zhongguancun , or Zhong Guan Cun, is a technology hub in Haidian District, Beijing, China.It is geographically situated in the northwestern part of Beijing city, in a band between the northwestern Third Ring Road and the northwestern Fourth Ring Road...

 IT zone. The northern segment is equally busy, running through Beitaipingzhuang, with links to the Badaling Expressway

Badaling Expressway

The Badaling Expressway is an expressway in the People's Republic of China which links urban Beijing to the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall of China...

 and the Jingcheng Expressway

Jingcheng Expressway

The Jingcheng Motorway is a motorway in China which links Beijing to Chengde in Hebei province. The total length is 210 kilometres.It is a new motorway linking the northeastern portion of the 3rd Ring Road with the north and northeastern outlying regions of Beijing municipality...

.

Line 10 of the Beijing Subway

Line 10, Beijing Subway

Line 10 of the Beijing Subway is the second loop line in Beijing's rapid transit network.Half of the Line 10 loop, north and east of the city centre, has been in operation since July 19, 2008. The other half of the loop, in the south and west, is now under construction. In the north, south and...

 has been constructed under the eastern and northern segments of the 3rd Ring Road and was completed in 2008.

Traffic Congestion

The 3rd Ring Road is notorious for its traffic jams. The eastern segment, which runs through Beijing's central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 (CBD), is regularly gridlocked during rush hour. The interchanges of this segment are modified diamond interchange

Diamond interchange

A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a freeway crosses a minor road. The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge...

s, consisting of openings of the road barrier on the right that separates the main lanes from the frontage roads. These interchanges can often back up traffic since they cannot easily handle the huge traffic volumes of Beijing. The situation is often worsened by the bus stops that are located right adjacent to the exits.

Location

The 3rd Ring Road is 2.5 kilometres from the 2nd Ring Road and 5 kilometres from the city centre. The 3rd Ring Road goes through mostly residential and some commercial areas (except for the CBD) that were created during Beijing's first wave of rapid expansion.

Surface Conditions

Before 2003, the entire 3rd Ring Road was very bumpy, and trips were very unpleasant. Following the renovation of the 2nd Ring Road in 2001, a renovation project similar to that of the aforementioned road was conducted in 2003 and the road surface has been much smoother since then.