Directory_and_Chronicle_1926 — Page 746

690

SHANGHAI

DESCRIPTION

avenue

The streets of the British and French Settlements all run north and south and easte and west, mostly for the whole length of both, crossing each other at right angles. They were when first laid out twenty-two feet wide, but have since at very great expense been mostly made much wider. In spite of this, however, and the more stringent regulations, the traffic problem is becoming increasingly acute. Under the new Regula- tions power to compel the sale of land required for public purposes has been secured. Notwithstanding the soft nature of the soil the roads are kept in remarkably good order, despite the heavy motor traffic. With the introduction of trams the whole track of the Maloo, one mile in length, was laid with Jarrah hardwood blocks, and the section of Nanking Road between Kiangse Road and the Bund was paved with the same material. Owing to the nature of the ground, expensive piling or concrete foundations are necessary before any building over one storey in height can be erected, and all stone has to be brought from a long distance.

long distance. The Soochow Creek, between the British Settlement and Hongkew, is now crossed by nine bridges, seven of which are adapted for carriage traffic. The scheme for filling in the Yang-king-pang was passed by the land-renters in 1914, the area thus gained being converted into a fine boulevard. The first tube of the Yang-king-pang culvert to be put under the Bund Bridge was laid in March, 1916, and the Avenue Edward VII., as the new thoroughfare is named, was finished in the same year. The Bund Bridge, which was carefully removed for re-erection elsewhere, and the levelling of the road surface at this point saw the com- pletion of the work, and the International Settlement trams now run the full length of the French and International Bunds. The whole work of turning what was a foul- sinelling creek into what promises to be one of the finest boulevards in the Far East, was one of the biggest single jobs undertaken by the local Public Works Department. Avenue Edward VII., from The Bund to Thibet Road, is a thoroughfare of consider- able width, with spacious foot paths. All the roads leading off the new on both sides have rounded corners with a wide sweep, and the engineers, in planning the road, made every arrangement possible for the accommodation of extensive traffic. In the straightening of the road the windings of the former creek are abolished. It may be mentioned that there is no tram line on Avenue Edward VII., the French tramway company having removed the loop section which ran from the French Bund along the old Quai de Yang-king-pang and throngh Rue Montauban to Rue du Consulat. Instead, a double line is run from the Rue du Montauban corner down Rue du Consulat to The Bund. A new delimita- tion of the French Settlement was also undertaken during 1914, and the French author- ities were given full control of the roads that have been built beyond the old boundary. Six new bridges were erected in 1901 to connect the extended Settlements. A new steel bridge over the mouth of the Soochow Creek was completed in 1908, replacing the wooden "Garden Bridge" erected in 1873. It has two equal spans of 171' 24", the width is 60 feet with a carriage-way of 36 feet 9 inches; the gradient of the approaches is 1 in 30; the headway above high-water from 6′ 6′′ to 11". There are several good driving roads extending into the country, two leading to Sicawei, a distance of about six miles, and one to Jessfield by the banks of the Soochow Creek, for five miles, with an extension measuring some thirteen miles to the extreme limits of the Shanghai hsein district and now called the Rubicon. Another broad thoroughfare, Yang- tzepoo Road, formerly ran by the side of the river for five miles. It has recently been extended to Woosung, the official opening of the extension, which is 30 feet wide, taking place in May, 1919. The termini of Jessfield Road and Yangtzepoo Road now mark the limits in their separate directions of the Foreign Settlements. The land for a new road from Sicawei to Jessfield was acquired in 1905. Several other roads have been proposed, but although foreigners are prepared to pay high prices for the land the opposition of the officials has hitherto prevented their construction. Now, however, by the granting of the extension of the Settlements the Municipal Council has the right to build and police roads in certain adjacent districts. The foreshore in front of the Settlement has been reclaimed, raised, turfed, and planted with shrubs, and forms a spacious and delightful promenade. The trees planted some years ago having now attained a good height, and a number of imposing buildings having been completed, the English and French Bunds form a magnificent boulevard. widening of the Bund from Peking Road to the Garden Bridge was commenced in 1920.

The

Many foreign houses, surrounded by gardens, have been erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Sicawei, and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the Settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These