Shenzhen will spend 1 billion yuan (US$125 million) on improving its roads in the next three years, a senior government official said Tuesday.

This year's plan will cover 17 roads including Shennan Road, said Che Xiaoping, director of the city's traffic improvement office, while addressing a phone-in radio program.

The improvement of the roads is expected to reduce traffic noise, a major headache for Shenzheners. The number of noise complaints accounted for 64.7 percent of that of the complaints local residents filed with the municipal environment bureau last year, and complaints on traffic noise accounted for 16 percent of all noise complaints, said Chen Weiyuan, vice director general of the environment bureau.

Improving the road will greatly reduce the noise, said Chen, citing the example of Xinzhou Road. Traffic noise dropped after the road was paved with pitch.

Ma Zengxiong, vice director general of the traffic police bureau, promised to apply soft materials on speed bumps in order to reduce noise. "We will try to apply soft materials on all speed bumps near the residential areas," said Ma.

Ma also said the government would send more traffic police to patrol residential areas so as to prevent drivers from using the car horn. "We will launch an operation for that," said Ma, when addressing a complaint that many drivers sounded the horn after 10 PM on Zhenhua Road. Ma said the traffic police penalized 5,000 drivers each year for sounding the horn in a restricted area or at a late hour. Each driver is fined 200 yuan.

However, Ma rejected the idea of installing noise-proof screens on roads near major residential areas. "The noise-proof screens cannot deal with noise affecting apartments above eight floors. Besides, they are expensive and could affect the sight," said Ma. Ma said it was more feasible to install noise-proof screens on very noisy roads.

(Shenzhen Daily July 20, 2006)