Immediately on completion of the Northern Cross-Island Highway in April 1966, Taiwan Highway Bureau began studies for the construction of a third road, the Southern Cross-Is- land Highway. This will provide another vital link and, more impor- tantly, will enable economic develop- ment to be planned by areas rather than by lines and points which the existing road system forces on planners.
was
Total length of the Northern Cross-Island Highway, which built in three sections with priorities according to estimated economic value, is 166.56 kilometers. The section from Chilan to Lishan with a length of 75.32 kilometers is a branch of the East-West Cross-Island High- way and was completed in April way and was completed in April 1960.
Work on the section from Tapu to Sanmin and Fuhsing a length of 14.34 kilometers was started in April 1960 and finished in April 1961. Work on the third section of 71 kilo- meters between Fuhsing and Chilen
TAOYUAN
HSIEN
FU-FISING
Surveying the route for the Northern Cross-Island Highway
started in April 1963 and was com- pleted in April 1966.
Approval for the Northern Cross-
TAI-PEI
SCALE
CHING - MEI
10 15 20 KM.
-CHENG
HSIN-TIEN
-HSIA
-PU
LO-FOU
WU-LAI
TAIPEI HSIEN
KAO-PU-YUNGHWA BRIDGE
PING-LIN
TOU-CHENG
LO-TUNG
FUHSING
BRIDGE
YUNG-HWA
KAO-Y!
PALING
PA-LING
BRIDGE
·TAHAN BRIDGE
TA-MAN
SUAN-YUAN
CHIH-TUAN
MSI-TSUN
"TA-TUNG COUNTY CHỊ LAN
AO
f
ILAN
HSIEN
58
HSINCHU
ASIEN
SZE-CHI
SZE YUAN PASS.
WU-LING FARM
TAICHUNG
ASIEN
HWALIEN HSIEN
HUAN-SHAN
(LI-SHAN
FU-SHOU SHAN FARM
EAST WEST CROSS-ISLAND HIGHWAY
OCEAN
PACIFIC
Island Highway was given early in 1959 and a budget was opened for it while by the Taiwan Government work on the earlier East-West Cross- Island Highway was at its height.
Unfortunately in August 1959, when preparatory work was under way. a flood destroyed farms and crops in a large area in South Taiwan. Damage was so serious that work on the new road had to be halted be- cause the earmarked funds had to be diverted for reconstruction work in the flood areas.
During 1960 and 1961 special funds were made available through the Vocational Assistance Commis- sion for Retired Servicemen for building the portion of the road be- tween Chilan and Chihtuan to facili- tate the extraction of logs from the forests in the area which were being exploited by the Commission. But it was not until April 1963 that the Taiwan Highway Bureau was able to get to work on the Highway proper again.
At this time the foundations for the Chilan-Hsilin forest extraction road stretched for 30 kilometers. which was nearly half of the most difficult section. This eased consider- ably the burden the Highway Bureau which set up a construction office to handle the engineering work.
on
Schedule Maintained
First they reconditioned the Chilan- Hsilin section,
the standardising working methods and fortifying several retaining works. Thereafter the 41 kilometer section from Hsilin to Fuhsing went to schedule. All the construction work apart from two suspension bridges and a steel arch bridge was done by the retired ser- vicemen who had actually started the road.
In this section a volume of 670,000 cubic metres of earth was removed for the road bed. Three bridges, two suspension and one arch, were con structed with a total length of 551 kilometers. Other works consisted of three tunnels with a total length of
Far East Architect & Builder March, 1967