The project involved transportation planning and operations support for the Olympic Green Area before, during, and after the Beijing Olympic and Paralympics Games. The 3,000-acre (1,215-hectare) Olympic Green Area was the centrepiece of the Games. It housed the Olympic Village, half the Olympic venues—notably the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and National Aquatics Centre (Water Cube), as well as the Chinese Ethnic Culture Museum and the China International Exhibition Centre.
WSP partnered with the Transport Department, the Beijing Organizing Committee, the Expert Evaluation Committee, and the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications to devise an integrated traffic operations plan that has now become widely regarded as a benchmark for efficient transport management, and has raised the interest of government departments in major cities throughout China. WSP also assisted the Olympic Organizing Committee to ensure the smooth, safe and efficient management of the transportation system, especially during the opening and closing ceremonies.
WSP’s innovative vehicle and pedestrian simulations provided valuable design and decision-making assistance to the Olympic Planning Committee. The average departure time from the Olympic Green Area was 75 minutes—45 minutes shorter than the Beijing Olympic commitment. A crowd management plan was also developed to cater for up to 400,000 visitors at peak days at the Olympic Green Area. The plan provided simulation modeling of the main entrance and exit points of the venues, and transportation facilities to identify and mitigate potential safety concerns.
