The plum blossoms are blooming here, calling you to come see them, but not calling you to drive here

Minhang, Shanghai The plum garden in Xinzhuang has been established for many years. From the small trees at the beginning to now, the plum trees have grown quite large and can still form clusters. With the temperature rising these past two days, it’s just the right time for full bloom. You can come to see it; it might be the best scenery of the year. But please, do not drive here on the weekend. Just take a taxi nearby and walk over, isn’t that possible? Or take the nearest subway and then walk here. Because the west gate of the plum garden on Hongxin Road is a two-way single lane, meaning one lane each way, only two lanes wide in total. The road is very narrow, usually mixed with pedestrians and vehicles, and cars have to drive in the middle. Now it’s even worse. Coming from the west side of the Meilong West Road service lane, the right turn lane can’t turn at all. There are also buses on this road, so you can imagine how congested it is. I drove there, but I just wanted to pass by. The right turn was completely stuck, so I had to turn left and take another route, going along Meilong West Road, making a big loop to get to my destination. But while I was detouring, I noticed many cars trying to park in nearby parking lots. The entire Meilong West Road from west to east was jammed with cars, and the roadside was full of parked vehicles, occupying several lanes. If you drive on this road now, maybe only two cars can turn right per green light. The key is that right-turning vehicles are not controlled by traffic signals; they are still stuck ahead. So a place that usually takes 13 minutes to get to might take half an hour or more. Traffic police are already maintaining order, but it’s just a drop in the bucket and not very effective. This small road has always seemed problematic to me. It’s just too narrow. It might as well be turned into a pedestrian path, and other roads should be widened to let people come from the outskirts. Or during especially busy seasons, when there are many people, like spring holidays, this road should be pedestrian-only, and all vehicles should be guided to park nearby. But it seems there aren’t many parking options nearby, and walking from there is still relatively close. This can only be managed by the government. On weekends + good weather, if you choose to drive here, a plum garden day trip turns into a private car traffic jam day trip.