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Streets in Shanghai should start to look a little more colorful by the end of this year as Changning District has decided to pave many roads with green and orange asphalt.

District officials say the new roads will provide more friction for vehicles, making them more responsive when turning or braking, and make it easier to visually separate motor vehicle lanes from bicycle lanes.

A few roads in the district will be covered in the colored asphalt as a test over the next few months.

"If the test is successful, we will gradually pave all of the district's roads with different colors," Zhu Minqiang, head of the district's Urban Engineering Department, said yesterday.

French-based CMP will provide free technology to pave a test section of Yan'an Road W. near Kaixuan Road by the year's end. The colors could include green and orange, officials said.

Zhu says colored roads have become quite popular in Western countries such as Britain, Germany and the Netherlands because they have several advantages over conventional road surfaces.

"The different road colors can better divide lanes for vehicles, public buses and cyclists," said Zhu.

"The new technology will help keep local traffic in good order, particularly for cyclists, as the city is planning a new network for cycling use," according to Chen Youhua, a senior engineer with the Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau.

Not everyone is thrilled with the colorful plan.

"Although the colorful roads will beautify the city, upgrading Shanghai's extensive roads will definitely take a long time, making the city's already troubled traffic situation even worse," said Huang Youfu, a taxi driver.

Shanghai has nearly 5,000 roads, with the total distance exceeding 10,000 kilometers.
The city's urban planning authority is considering using some common colors to give a coordinated look to local streets.

"Universal colors will make a city appear in good order and many cities have their own colors," said Lin Weihang at Tongji University.