The Taipei City Government on Thursday announced traffic control plans for the Taipei Lantern Festival, as well as measures to meet an expected increase in traffic as people travel to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday on Friday.
The festival is to run from Feb. 4 to Feb. 12 in the Ximending (西門町) area near the Red House Theater for the first time.
Traffic controls will be initiated on the first and last days of the festival, the days on which larger numbers of visitors are expected, as ceremonies will be held to mark the opening and closing of the event, Taipei Department of Transportation division head Chang Sheng-wan (張生萬) said.
For the opening ceremony on Feb. 4, a section of Chengdu Road — between Zhonghua Road and Xining S Road — as well as sections along Hanzhong Street and Changsha Street, are to be closed from 4pm to 8:30pm, Chang said.
The same road sections are to be closed for the closing ceremony on Feb. 12 from 5pm to 9:30pm, he said.
Zhonghua Road, between Chengdu Road and Kangding Road, and all latitudinal roads on that section will be closed on Feb. 11 from 12pm to 8pm for a carnival, a highlight of the festival, he said.
Chengdu Road and Kangding Road will be closed from 5pm that day, he said.
Asked whether he was concerned that major traffic congestion might occur in Taipei ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday like last year, Chang said the area close to Dihua Street, where food products commonly associated with the holiday are sold, has seen the sharpest increase in traffic this month, but that it was not a cause for concern.
Meanwhile, the Taipei Police Department Traffic Division said it has been working to prevent gridlock by assigning traffic officers at intersections prone to congestion earlier than usual.
Officers are to start directing traffic at 3pm, two hours earlier than usual, this week, it said.
The division also published a list of intersections where congestion is most likely ahead of the holiday, urging people to look out for heavy traffic on Zhongxiao E and W roads, Civic Boulevard and Keelung Road ahead of the holiday.
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