Over 85 mln Chinese travel on first day of long holiday

The figure is 13.3 percent more than the equivalent period last year, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Transport, Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

The surge was partially driven by a new government policy that has made most expressways in the country toll free during the holiday period for passenger cars with fewer than seven seats.

Sunday is the first day of China's eight-day "Golden Week" holiday bridging Mid-Autumn Festival on Sunday and the National Day holiday from Monday to Sunday.

Authorities predict that around 740 million trips will be made by Chinese people during the holiday, with around 660 million trips to be made on roads and waters, averaging 82.5 million trips daily, up 8.8 percent year on year.

China's major expressways have embraced traffic peak from 5 a.m. early Sunday morning, said He Jianzhong, spokesman with the Ministry of Transport.

Traffic snarled at major expressway toll gates across the country on Sunday. The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau reported long queues of cars appearing at 6 a.m. in front of toll gates for all 17 expressways in Beijing, as many outbound passengers hit the road before dawn.

He Jianzhong said the average speed was under 80 km per hour on major expressways as the number of motor vehicles increased 20 percent to 50 percent from ordinary days.

On some road sections, car accidents have caused congestions and slowed the traffic to a speed of less than 20 km per hour, he added.

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