Jiefang Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China

Jiefang Road

Jiefang Road, a road in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, is located in the urban area of Wuchang. It was built at the time of digging the west section of Sheshan. It is a north-south Street connecting the old city of Wuchang. Jiefang Bridge in the South and Zhongshan Road in the north, with a total length of 31 km and a width of 20 m (including sidewalk).

Historical evolution

Jiefang Road was called Zhongzheng road before the liberation of Wuhan. It used to be called Changjie street. It had begun to take shape in the Song Dynasty. The intersection of the north section of this street and Sheshan (now the site of the railway overpass at simenkou) was originally the "south tower" with a long history. In 1499, Han Hao, the political envoy of the Ming Dynasty, was transformed into Qiao tower, which was called "Chu Guan tower", commonly known as "Drum Tower". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the situation was turbulent. The rulers cut off the snake waist and the turtle head at the drum tower and Tiemenguan in Hanyang to cut off the land atmosphere of the two mountains, in order to achieve long-term stability. At that time, the so-called "snake cutting" at the drum tower was just a stone cutting hole below the drum tower, which made the long street south of the drum tower pass through the cave and extend to the Fanke yamen (now the gate of the Division) in the north of the mountain. Because under the drum tower, it was commonly known as the "Drum Tower cave", which was the only passage through the north and south of the Snake Mountain in the city.

In the 1930s, the population of Wuchang increased dramatically. Rickshaws became the main means of transportation in the city, and cars also appeared. However, the stone road of Changjie is only 45 meters wide, and there are only two rickshaws in Gulou cave. With the flow of people in and out, the traffic from Simen to Changjie and Gulou cave in downtown area is extremely congested.

In 1935, the authorities expanded the long street and extended it to both ends, starting from Xunsi River in the south to connect with Zhongzheng Street (now Jiefang Bridge) and ending with beikutong Street (now Zhongshan Road). Meanwhile, the abandoned cave of the south building was demolished and the south building arch bridge was built.

In 1956, due to the construction of the approach bridge of the Yangtze River Bridge, the Nanlou arch bridge was demolished and rebuilt into two overpasses crossing Jiefang Road side by side with railway and highway. The old gravel road carriageway north of wuconvex cinema in the north section of the road has also been reconstructed into asphalt pavement, so far Jiefang Road is covered with high-grade pavement materials. The old cement concrete road carriageway from the south of Wuchang cinema to jiefangqiao is often damaged and bumpy due to disrepair for a long time and increasing vehicle flow. Later, asphalt pavement is paved on the cement pavement year by year to maintain the integrity of the pavement, resulting in the gradual elevation of the pavement and the increase of the road arch.

In June 1995, the section from pengliuyang road to Jiefang Bridge was reconstructed to form a 12 meter wide cement concrete pavement of 15718 square meters, the installation station of 2670 meters, and the adjustment of 4250 square meters of walking brick sidewalk, which was completed on August 13, 1995.

In 1996, the road section from Zhongshan Road to pengliuyang road was reconstructed and paved with 12 meters wide cement concrete pavement. After the completion of the 3116 meter long Jiefang Road, it has become a clean and Commercial Center Street through Sheshan in the old city of Wuchang.