Cars stay away but Beijing smog remains - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Cars stay away but Beijing smog remains
Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:52AM EDT

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - Traffic flowed more smoothly but the
sun was still shrouded by smog on Monday, the fourth and
final day of Beijing's Olympic pollution prevention test.

To see if the city's poor air quality could be improved at
least temporarily during next August's Games, the Chinese
capital has taken up to 1.3 million cars off the roads by
banning number plates ending in odd and even numbers on
alternate days.

State media proclaimed the exercise a success, with the
Xinhua news agency claiming late on Monday that the city
had four "blue-sky days". But the skies -- and some
athletes -- suggested a mixed verdict.

-snip-

One such event is the 174-km (108-mile) cycling road race,
and some of the world's top cyclists were in Beijing over
the weekend for a test event.

Despite taking more than a third of Beijing's cars off the
roads and a race course that took in the less polluted
climes around the Great Wall, there were clearly
respiratory issues for some competitors.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/gc04/idUSPEK15989020070820