This city continues to surprise me in terms of how fast things grow. Fresh for a Monday morning, I’m hearing brand-new freeways such as a completely new freeway through western Beijing’s Mentougou District running alongside National Highway 109 (Beijing-Lhasa). (That thing cuts through all the mountains you could take in western Beijing.)

I’ve travelled the whole length of that highway up to the Kongjian junction just ouside Beijing, so I know how challenging that part of the highway can be. The worst is yours after Xiaolongmen (小龍門), when you encounter loads of curves on hilly terrain along with trucks parked halfway through. (And you wonder, all of a sudden, if you’re in France.)

(Or not.)

Another fair bit of relief is a brand-new second freeway from Beijing to the northeastern suburbs in Miyun. I also hear reports that we might hit upon a parallel freeway to the present-day G1 (Beijing-Harbin) freeway, as that one, as I’ve seen in a recent test drive, is a true nightmare especially at night, when trucks make your life hell.

I sort of can’t wait until late 2015, when there’ll be a “3+12″ freeway system around Beijing (3 orbitals, 12 non-orbital freeways). Of course, I’m looking for cooler things still in the rail world.

Like the Beijing-Kowloon HSR… man do I want that!