Traffic Planning in China - Need for and possibility of integrated traffic planning in the People's Republic of China

Due to the constantly high rate at which the economy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is developing, the demand for transportation of passengers as well as goods is not only rapidly growing but also changing in nature. To cope with the growing and changing demand for transport the PRC’s authorities in charge of traffic planning have to come up with new ideas. The current strategy of isolated action for every mode of transportation will, as I show later, not be sufficient to keep up with the constant growth of the demand. This is further strengthened by the fact that a large part of the measures taken by the authorities are merely trying to catch up with changed demand. At the current level of traffic development and with the current growth rates this strategy will not be expedient in the future. To understand the changing demand for transportation it is necessary to know and understand the reasons for the change. I will therefore try to give a very short overview of the relevant historical developments and economic, demographic and political changes. Based on this knowledge I will attempt to draw a picture of the current state of the traffic system and traffic planning structures in the PRC and possible development scenarios. This will provide the background necessary to evaluate the state and possibilities of integrated traffic planning in the PRC.