Transportation planners in Guangzhou have focussed their efforts on increasing road capacity and improving the public transportation system. The city is working on construction of a ring road and several downtown expressways, and the bridge capacity over the Pearl River has more than doubled in the past 15 years. Planners promote wider, high-volume, grade-separated highways as the solution to Guangzhou's congestion problem. Also, overpasses have been built to relieve some of the worst traffic bottlenecks.

Planners assume that bicycle use will decrease and public transportation use will increase as the system is improved. Guangzhou has one of the better bus systems in China, with a choice of air-conditioned or non-air-conditioned buses, express services, minivans, taxis, and motorcycle taxis. However, its subway system lags far behind that of many cities: its first subway line was begun in 1993 and opened at the end of 1998, running from Tianhe to Liwan district. Construction is now underway on the city's first light-rail line, from Tianhe to Huangpu district. While the city has been working hard to solve the problem of traffic congestion, construction on roads and public transportation lags far behind the demand.