Drg. No. 1
Answer
CONFIDENTIAL
Expansion of Road Traffic
At present, no official information is available
concerning Chinese plans to expand road traffic, nor is there any indication if road improvements are likely to be
made on the Chinese side of the border in the near future.
However, there has recently been an informal but confidential
approach to the Director of Public Works by one Consulting Engineer (K T Philcox & Associates), who stated that he has
been commissioned by the Kwangtung authorities to design and build a four-lane highway capable of further expansion
to six-lane between Kwangtung and Man Kam To. Mr PhilcOX said that the authorities would like this route opened by
1981, but considers 1982 a more reasonable date for its
completion. He forecasts a large and rapid increase in
road traffic between Kwangtung and the Container Terminal in Kwai Chung.
15.
The earlier practice of unloading goods and
animals from China at the border and re-loading on the
Hong Kong side underwent a significant change in January of this year when approval was granted to certain companies
to travel on both sides of the border. It is recorded
that, at present, seven Hong Kong companies have so far obtained this approval and that 1,543 vehicles made the bridge crossing in January. These crossings were made almost entirely by goods vehicles.
16.
It is difficult to quantify the likely increase in traffic growth over the next few years, but, as yet, there are no great problems concerning the alignment or traffic capacity of the existing road. If very significant growth materialises, however, a new road by-passing Sheung Shui would become necessary. In this event, it is likely
that an alignment to the west of Sheung Shui would be
selected and a, tentative line for this route is shown on
Drawing No. 1.
CONFIDENTIAL ·
3.
/contd
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