Beijing’s traffic is a nightmare, and it’s getting worse. At the time of the Athens Games in 2004, there were just over 2 million registered cars on the streets of the capital. By the time Beijing itself holds the games that number is expected to jump to more than 3.5 million. In 1994, traffic in the city moved at a brisk 45kph pace. Now the average speed has dropped to just 12kph, and it continues to fall.

Experts say that the city’s traffic problems are not simply the result of having more cars on the road. The layout of the capital, which uses a system of six ring roads (with a seventh on the way) surrounding the cultural and political centres of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, is much more symbolically than functionally effective. The city lacks great north-south thoroughfares and Changan Jie, which connects the capital from east to west is far from sufficient to handle the daily onslaught of commuters. As the former capital of the Bicycle Kingdom turns into a motor city, finding ways to ease traffic woes will be essential to Beijing’s continued development.