Trafficis expected to be very busy this weekend for dongzhi, or winter solstice, tomb visiting ceremonies.
The solstice, which falls on Wednesday this year, like Qingming Festival, is also a key time for people to pay their respects to the dead by visiting tombs. Dongzhi is an important occasion for tidying up tombs, and to observe old traditions.
People burn paper money and offer food to the deceased as a tribute.
Expressways leading to big cemeteries are likely to be the worst affected for traffic.
The three peak days are this weekend as well as December 21, when a total of around 1.91 million "tomb sweepers" are estimated to be attending.
Between 8:30am and 11am is seen as the peak period. An extra 210,000 vehicles are forecast to be on the roads, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
The busiest areas are likely to be Yueluo Road in Baoshan District, Tanglu Road in the Pudong New Area, Zhufeng Road in Qingpu District, Hunan Road in Pudong, Jiasong Road N. in Jiading, as well as some sections and intersections of S2, S4, G50 and S5 highways, all of which lead to major cemeteries.
Jiading, Qingpu, Baoshan, Fengxian and Pudong house most of the city's 44 cemeteries, and traffic jams are forecast.
Songhe, Binhai and Baoluo cemeteries are expected to receive the largest number of tomb sweepers.
Remote satellite monitoring systems will be strengthened, and there will be volunteers on hand to maintain order.
Extra buses will run between Metro stations and cemeteries to ease traffic pressure.
Free toll admission will be offered at busy exits of expressways if there becomes a need to speed up traffic.
Metro lines 2 and 11 will cut interval periods between trains this weekend to handle the heavy traffic expected, the city's Metro operator said.
Shuttle bus services will also be added during the Dongzhi period to ferry tomb sweepers between Metro stations and cemeteries.
Three trains will be added to run between East Xujing and Guanglan Road stations of Metro Line 2 before 1pm during the weekend. The interval time between East Xujing and Songhong Road stations will then be cut by half to three minutes and 40 seconds.
Line 11 will also add four trains running between Sanlin and Huaqiao stations before 2pm at the weekend, cutting the interval to three minutes and 45 seconds. The interval between Huaqiao and Jiading Xinchen stations of the line will be cut to six minutes, 15 seconds from the usual 10 minutes.
The move is expected to facilitate residents living in downtown or Pudong to sweep tombs in cemeteries of Jiading District.
After alighting the subway, people can take shuttle buses to the cemeteries. These routes cover 19 cemeteries in five suburban districts and 13 stations of seven Metro lines, including lines 2, 5, 8 and 11.
