The Taipei Department of Transportation (DOT) and police have worked out traffic controls from this Friday to next Monday morning to help move the crowds from both the capital city and the adjacent Taipei County.

Both Hau Lung-bin, the new mayor, and his predecessor Ma Ying-jeou will take part in the new year countdown and gala.

Ma passed the torch to Hau on Monday to concentrate on his position as chairman of the opposition Kuomintang after working at the City Hall for eight years.

Well-known singers and bands will not only entertain the crowds but will also accompany them to greet the first light of the new year.

Despite all the miseries — including the high jobless rate, rising suicides, and seemingly endless corruption among public officials — people in the Greater Taipei area will move forward and embrace the seventh year in the new and young millennium.

The towering Taipei 101, the world’s tallest man-made building, will put on a fireworks show promised to be even more spectacular than last year’s. Organizers have set aside a budget of NT$30 million, up by NT$10 million from 2006, for one of the most stunning shows on earth.

An estimated 400,000 people participated in the mass new year gathering 12 months ago. City government officials projected a turnout of at least half a million this year.

To accommodate the huge crowds and the wide variety of activities, the Department of Transportation (www.dot.taipei.gov.tw) has mapped out detailed and multiphased traffic control plans from now to Jan. 1.

— Wednesday to 10 p.m., Friday:

Five lanes on the east side of Shifu Road’s section between Songshou Road and Songgao Rd. right in front of the City Hall will be sealed for the construction of a huge stage.

— Friday to 10 a.m. Jan. 1:

The whole Shifu Road (the section between Songshou Road and Songgao Rd.) and New Ren-ai Rd. will be completely sealed off.

For Sunday, new year’s eve, three phases of traffic controls will be imposed on separate streets and districts at different time frames:

— From 1 - 8 p.m.: The district surrounded by

1) Songgao Rd. and Zhongxiao East Rd. on the north;

2) Songren Rd on the east;

3) Songlian Rd., Xinyi Rd., Songshou Rd. and Ren-ai Rd. on the south; and

4) Keelung Rd., Sun Yat-sen Rd., and Shifu Rd. on the west.

— From 5:30 p.m. for inflow crowds: a roadblock will be set up at the intersection of Sun Yat-sen Rd. and Songgao Rd. to prevent east-bound vehicles from entering Songgao Rd.

— From 8:30 - 10 p.m. new year party at the City Hall Plaza: the controlled areas will be expanded to cover the whole Shihfu Rd. and Keelung Rd.

— From 10 p.m. Sunday to 3 a.m., Monday: traffic controls for the area will be mainly for outbound crowds, including banning westward traffic on the Xinyi Expressway and opening only the eastward traffic.

The towing of illegally parked vehicles will be intensified on all streets surrounding the district until 3 a.m., Jan. 1. The affected streets will include 1) Keelung Rd. (the section between Yungji Rd. and Dunhua South Rd.), 2) Guangfu South Rd. and Guangfu North Rd. (section between Bade Rd. and Keelung Rd.), 3) Songchin Rd., and 4) Zhuangjing Rd.

DOT officials urged all vehicles to stay away from the prescribed area during designated periods.

People going to the Xinyi District may take either bus or mass rapid transit (MRT) services to help ease the load on transport services, they said.

Public bus service will be extended to 2 a.m. Monday morning. The MRT service will be closed at 3 a.m. for party revelers going home. But it will reopen at 4:30 a.m. again for early birds who have different new year plans.

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