PB was one of the three finalist firms selected for a design competition in southern China for the LoWu District Intermodal Comprehensive Design Project. The ultimate goal of the project was to develop a world-class multimodal passenger transportation facility that provides:

• Quality transportation services supported by efficient operations
  
  
• A livable urban space environment with a balanced land use/transportation interface.

The sponsor of the competition was the City Government of Shenzhen. The other finalists were a firm from Germany and one from Japan.

Figure 1: Location of Major Landmarks (Area A: The Immigration Tower, Area B: LoWu Shopping Mall, where the LoWu Regional Bus Terminal is located at the street and second levels; Area C: LoWu Regional Railroad Terminal; Area D: Outdoor terminal for intra-city local buses; Area E: Future site of the new Shenzhen Metro Station; Area F: The strip commercial area)

The LoWu District

Located in the southeastern portion of the City of Shenzhen, LoWu District is the gateway between southern China and Hong Kong. The 0.35-km² (0.135-square-mile) project area, which is at the border between the two cities, is accessible by rail services provided by both China and Hong Kong. The design included these rail services plus inter-city buses and intra-city local city buses; and a new mass transit subway line, the Shenzhen Metro, that is scheduled for full operation in 2003. The auto modes included private cars and taxi services.

There are several critical landmarks located within the project area (Figure 1). These major landmarks, which are served by two one-way loop road systems (in the shape of the number 8), include:

• Cross-border Immigration Tower, the cross-border check point between Hong Kong (the Special Administration Region) and China
  
  
• LoWu Bus Terminals
  
  
• LoWu Shopping Mall
  
  
• LoWu Regional Railroad Terminal
  
  
• The new Shenzhen Metro Station
  
  
• The five-star Shangri-La Hotel
  
  
• Roadside strip commercial establishments along the west side of the railroad track in the western part of the District (an area that is subject to future redevelopment pending the outcome of this project).

Perhaps the most important landmark is the Immigration Tower in that it brings the largest number of people to the LoWu district every day. In 1998, the average daily cross-border flow was recorded at 180,000 persons per day with a peak-day flow of 288,000. This peak-day demand increased to 318,000 persons by 1999 and more than 340,000 persons in 2000. This demand is expected to continue to grow and to soon reach the daily design capacity of 400,000 persons.

Similarly, the regional railroad terminal handled an average demand of 30,000 passengers per day in 1999 with 57 trains in operation. Daily demand is expected to reach 80,000 passengers within the next few years, with between 100 to 120 trains a day. The bus terminal serves another 22,000 passengers per day, and the new Metro Station is designed to handle 230,000 passengers per day. The majority of the transportation demand is from the border crossing flow.

Design Goals/Objectives and Problems/Issues

We initiated the planning and design process by first defining the major problems and issues that our design should address. We saw these as being the following:

• The entire project area experiences extensive traffic congestion and delays. These undesirable conditions induce widespread traffic violations, such as illegal turns, illegal passenger drop-off or pick-up by taxis and private cars, and pedestrian jay-walking.
  
  
• The above conditions create extensive conflicts between all modal movements between the facilities.
  
  
• Connectivity between different transportation modes is poor and inconvenient because of the locations of the landmarks and the lack of convenient transportation between them.
  
  
• The railroad tracks were a physical barrier that separated the entire district into two individual zones.

Figure 2 illustrates traffic conditions on the southbound boulevard on a typical weekday. The area in front of the rail terminal is a pedestrian walkway that extends all the way to the Immigration Tower. On weekends and holidays, this area serves as the waiting area for people in lines heading into the Immigration Tower.

Weaving Area Congestion. Figure 2 also illustrates one of the fundamental problems we faced. The cross-section of the southbound boulevard is paved for five lanes of traffic and the right lane is reserved for taxi services-drop-off only at the upstream end and pick-up only at the downstream end. Due to heavy traffic volumes, the weaving section is too short to accommodate all the vehicles headed for various destinations.

Figure 2: Typical Weekday Condition

As congestion and vehicle queues build up, a very common situation occurs--many taxis attempt to drop off their passengers in the right lane in the weaving area, then quickly egress the area through the first loop on the left because they want to avoid being caught in the queue in the second loop. Very often, taxis even drop off their passengers at the middle of the weave section and try to pick up others illegally. The situation becomes even worse when a high volume of buses merges from right to left toward their terminals. At that point, the weave section really becomes a war zone for pedestrians, cars and buses.

Bus Terminal Issues. Another issue was the inconvenient and unsafe modal interface where passengers looking for their buses inside the terminal are unprotected from traffic. In addition, the boarding area is neither well lighted nor well ventilated, and exhausted air from the air-conditioned buses often makes this garage-like area very polluted, especially during the hot and humid summer months.

Planning Principles and Design Criteria

The ultimate question for our team was, "What is the best way to serve the people?" Based on our understanding of the problems and issues, and the ultimate policy goals and objectives set forth for the project, our team defined six planning and design criteria. They are, in order of priority:

1. People, not vehicles, are the number one priority.
   
   
2. Efficient cross-border operations must be maintained all the time.
   
   
3. Separation of people and vehicles must be maintained for operational efficiency and safety.
   
   
4. Intermodal transfers should be provided in a safe and convenient fashion.
   
   
5. ITS technologies should be integrated into the design to provide better quality of travel.
   
   
6. A compatible urban setting should be created.

The Immigration Tower

Our team focused on access to the Immigration Tower because it had the most critical function of the entire project area. To accommodate its needs, we came up with a three-level concept that is similar to one that might be used for an airport terminal. The concept called for separating the arrival and departure flows at the Tower and the modes of transportation, as follows:

• The top level serves the departure flow (Shenzhen to Hong Kong) and is the pedestrian podium that provides access to all transportation facilities and landmarks.
  
  
• The middle level (at the ground level) serves the arrival flow (Hong Kong to Shenzhen) and is the vehicle arena, which we designed to accommodate all vehicular movements.
  
  
• The lower level is the underground concourse that provides weather protected connections to the Shenzhen Metro and the underground pedestrian system.

Under this concept, travelers who are exiting or approaching the Tower have the three levels of modal interfaces available to serve them. Potential conflicts among various modes are minimized, thus providing a safer and more efficient intermodal environment.

Figure 3: Pedestrian Podium

Figure 4: Vehicle Arena

Figure 5: Underground Concourse

Modal Interfaces

In addition to the Immigration Tower, other critical functions within the complex that we considered included the Immigration Plaza, bus terminals, taxi stands, Rail Terminal Plaza, pick-up areas, parking, and pedestrian systems. In the following sections, we describe the three levels of modal interfaces of our concept and how each serves the critical functions of the project area.

The Pedestrian Podium. This upper-level podium (Figure 3) was designed to encompass the Immigration Plaza, the LoWu Regional Railroad Terminal Plaza and several pedestrian overpasses. It provides direct pedestrian access to all major landmarks such as the Tower, the mall, the rail terminal and the open space that connects the Shangri-La Hotel and other developments. In addition, the podium will have huge openings to provide natural lighting to the street level below.

Immigration Plaza was designed to handle the huge crowd anticipated for the peak days. It has an effective area that is twice the existing size, and the entire area is weather-protected in a way that provides shade and natural breezes.

Rail Terminal Plaza occupies the largest open space on the podium and serves as the grand entrance to the rail terminal, the Shangri-La Hotel and the proposed mix-use development opposite the terminal. It was designed to become a local landmark for the community with a green-cover area of approximately 35 percent to 40 percent.

The Vehicle Arena. Our first priority in designing the mid-level vehicle arena (Figure 4) was to separate the cars and buses. By extending the existing elevated roadway in front of the Immigration Tower to complete a one-way elevated facility around the complex, exclusive access for all cars and taxis was provided.

This design allows the existing southbound boulevard to serve as an exclusive bus corridor, so the intercity and intra-city buses have direct access to the existing terminal located inside and outside the shopping mall, respectively. Passengers for intercity buses can access the bus bays directly from the second floor of the mall where the ticket windows are located. Passengers for the intra-city local buses can access the bus bays from the air-conditioned waiting areas located at the podium level above.

The design also eliminated any potential interference between auto, taxi and bus operations. For the convenience of hotel guests, special pick-up areas reserved for hotel limos and tour buses will be located nearby the Immigration Tower entrances in the vehicle arena, as will be small service counters.

The Underground Concourse. The main function of the underground concourse (Figure 5) is to provide direct access between the Immigration Tower, the Shenzhen Metro, the Railroad Terminal and the bus terminals. Automated walkways, or travelators, as well as small commercial establishments are proposed inside the concourse for the public's additional comfort and convenience.

Figure 6: Taxi Pick-Up and Drop-Off Areas

Figure 7: Car Parking Facilities

Figure 8: Integrated Multimodal Facilities

Taxi Pick-Up and Drop-Off Areas. We proposed three service areas, as illustrated in Figure 6:

• Area 1 is located at the street level on the west side of the rail track to serve mainly the mix-use developments on the west side.
  
  
• Area 2 (the largest one) is located above the railroad track and serves the Immigration Tower and the rail terminal.
  
  
• Area 3 is located at the southeastern district, and serves mainly the shopping mall.

There will not be any pedestrian and vehicle conflict under this design because taxis drop off passengers at the designated area on the elevated level, then follow the ramp to the street level pick-up area and leave the vehicle arena via the elevated roadway or the northbound boulevard.

Car Park Facilities. Even though we gave modal integration facilities first priority over parking facilities, we included provision for car park facilities because car ownership in China continues to increase. Two indoor parking facilities were provided within the residential and mix-use developments planned for the redevelopment zone on the west side of the railroad track (Figure 7). There was no parking provision for the mall, however because the overall concept is to not encourage bringing private automobiles to the complex. The top levels of the existing transportation center connected to the Immigration Tower are reserved for VIP, government and short-term public parking.

Conclusions

Figure 8 shows a model of multi-modal integration that emphasizes the functionality of each transport mode from a human perspective. It represents our vision of how the LoWu multimodal complex can help to enhance mobility and accessibility and promote economic growth, while at the same time serving as an integral part of Shenzhen City. What we had learned from this project is that it is critical to prioritize and appreciate the functions of each modal element in the planning of any multi-modal facilities. In the case of Shenzhen, it is the people that you want to serve, not the vehicles.