Shanghai officials are studying plans to make Shanghai's famous waterfront Bund a traffic-free plaza by moving a riverside thoroughfare underground, local reports said Friday.

Shanghai's Urban Planning Administration Bureau has begun drafting plans to route the heavy traffic on 10-lane Zhongshan Rd., which runs alongside the Huangpu River which fronts the Bund, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Daily reported.

"The project aims to divert the huge volume of ground traffic and turn the Bund into a more friendly scenic attraction for visitors," it cited Li Junhao, a senior engineer at the bureau, as saying.

The report noted, however, that none of the officials involved were willing to offer a time schedule or cost estimate for the plan.

Until recent years, the famed Bund, a row of majestic, early 20th century buildings in the heart of Shanghai, was a well-shaded, peaceful park.

But a renewal project in the early 1990s widened the road and elevated the riverside promenade.

The old trees were gone, and the walkway is usually jam-packed with tourists, who must use a tunnel or pedestrian bridge to get to the riverfront.

(China Daily May 27, 2005)