The Airport Expressway ( zh, c=机场高速公路, p=Jīchǎng Gāosù Gōnglù), officially the S12, is a

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, which links central Beijing to the

Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing Capital International Airport is the busier of the two international airports serving Beijing, the capital city of China (the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport). The airport is located northeast of downtown Beijing ...

. It is just under 20 km in length. Opened in 1993, the expressway links Sanyuanqiao on the northeastern 3rd Ring Road to Beijing Airport. Another expressway, the 2nd Airport Expressway, was built in 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympics to serve traffic from the city to the airport.

Route

The Airport Expressway runs entirely within the confines of the municipality of Beijing. Basic Route:

( Sanyuanqiao - Siyuan - Beigao - Xiaotianzu -

)

History

The expressway opened on September 14, 1993, following a year-long construction effort which began on July 2, 1992. Previously, all traffic used the old Airport Road ( G101), which was tested to the limit in the early 1990s. This expressway has slashed driving time to the airport from the previous hour (using the old airport road) to just around 15 minutes. It is convenient and traffic is usually smooth.

Extension into the 2nd Ring Road

A 2.5 km stretch of expressway links Sanyuanqiao on the 3rd Ring Road to the area between

Dongzhimen Dongzhimen () was a gate in the old Beijing city fortifications. It is now a commercial center and transportation node in Beijing. Latimer D. (2014) ''The Improbable Beijing Guidebook'', Sinomaps, Beijing, , p.69 History The Marquis of Extended ...

and Xiaojieqiao on the 2nd Ring Road. Construction started in 2004; it was finished in 2006.

Alternate routes

Further approach routes to the airport were built in the first decade of the 21st century. The Northern Airport Line (机场北线), completed between 2005 and 2006, connected the Jingcheng Expressway with the northern part of the airport, to form a northern approach route. The route commences at Lutong, just over halfway between the

5th Ring Road Beijing's 5th Ring Road (, China Road Numbering: S50 (Beijing) is a Ring roads of Beijing, ring road encircling the city about away from the city centre. It takes the form of an expressway and is in length. Being a ring road, it has no natur ...

and the 6th Ring Road, on the Jingcheng Expressway. In 2008, another route, the 2nd Airport Expressway, was built between the eastern 5th Ring Road and the airport in time for the Beijing Olympics. Both routes have significantly alleviated traffic to the airport from the city proper.

Road conditions

Speed limit

Leftmost lane: minimum 100 km/h, maximum 120 km/h. Other lanes: minimum 60 – 80 km/h, maximum 100 km/h.

Tolls

The toll collection on the Airport Expressway has a contentious history. Construction was funded by the government using a bank loan in 1993, and residents began to dispute the rationale for the toll collection several years after the road was completed, doubting that the loan was paid off and that most of the revenue was actually used to pay back the loan. Despite these inquiries and complaints, the local government continued to collect tolls. The toll collection rights were eventually sold to a public corporation, the Capital Development Corporation, and the time of toll collection was lengthened by 30 years. The central government's general accounting office investigated and found that in the 14-year period (up to 2005), the total toll revenue was over 3 billion yuan; this was much higher than the original investment amount, 1.2 billion yuan. Under pressure, the local government lowered the toll from 15 to 10 yuan. CNY 0.5/km as of

intersection for sections south of the toll gate. Entire stretch from Sanyuanqiao to

costs CNY 5 (price for small passenger cars). As of June 2011, the Airport Express is free of charge into the city, but retains the CNY 5 fare toward the airport.
Note: For frequent users, a sensor-style Express Transit Card is available.

Lanes

6 lanes (3 up, 3 down) uniformly.

Traffic

Good during the day. Mild traffic jams during rush hour, mostly in the southern section of the road near Beijing.

Major exits

NE 2nd Ring Road, NE 3rd Ring Road, NE

4th Ring Road The 4th Ring Road () is a controlled-access expressway ring road in Beijing, China which runs around the city, with a radius of approximately from city centre. The total length of the road is . There are 147 bridges and viaducts that run the le ...

, Dashanzi, NE

, Beigao, Xiaotianzu,

Service areas

None on the expressway. The Weigou exit has a gas station close to it (on the way back to

Connections

Ring roads of Beijing: Connects with the NE 2nd Ring Road between

and Xiaojieqiao, NE 3rd Ring Road at Sanyuanqiao, the NE

at Siyuan, and the NE

at Wuyuan Bridge.

List of exits

Listed are exits heading northeast as of

( 2nd Ring Road)
Symbols: ↗ = exit, ⇆ = main interchange; → = only when heading for the airport; ← = only when heading for central Beijing; ↘ = exit only; ¥ = central toll gate * ⇆ 1: ''(Interchange with 3rd Ring Road)'' 3rd Ring Road (Sanhuanlu) * ⇆ 2: (↘ if ←) ''(Interchange with

)'' 4th Ring Road (Sihuanlu) * ↗ 3: Dashanzi * ⇆ 4: (↘ if ←) ''(Interchange with

)'' 5th Ring Road * ⇆ 5: ''(Interchange with China National Highway 101)'' Beigao, Shunyi * ↗ 6: Weigou * ↗ 7: Yanglin Road * ¥ Xiaotianzu * ↗ 8: (→) Xiaotianzu Road / (←) Shunyi, Tongzhou * ↗ (→, ↘) South Apron (to Terminal 3) *

(Terminals 1 and 2)

References

{{Roads and Expressways of Beijing Road transport in Beijing Expressways in China