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In the western lager urban area what is wanted is to make one of the three longitudinal Roads, Connaught, Des Vœux and Queens, the principal traffic artery. Des Vœux (with its break connected up) would seem the best for this purpose, leaving Connaught for dockside and Queens for local Shopping traffic. But it is of no avail to label a road 'traffic artery' unless something is done for this purpose; and the only way in which Des Voeux Road can be made to serve as the traffic artery of this part of Hong Kong, is by closing as many as possible of the side roads opening on it and by prescribing a slower speed along Connaught and Queens Road and introducing further police control.
East of the Dock Yard, Henessy Road appears the most suitable for the same function,`continuing with a new road across Causeway Bay, to join up with Kings Road. It cannot be pretended that these are very remarkable improvements, but it must be remembered that strictly speaking there is no through traffic - it is all engendered within the urban ribbon. The Tunnel entrance(see next
section) will certainly concentrate traffic at the centre point, but there will be vacant ground for this to be properly distributed. It is unfortunate that the landward roads, on the higher level, which, with some minor improvements (E.Ġ. Kennedy Road to Bowen Road), can make excellent and attractive 'cornice' roads, continuous from Bonham Road near the University site to Stubbs Road, overlooking the racecourse, cannot be of much service as a bye-pass for Commercial Traffic: this cannot be persuaded bo mount up the steep roads, at right angles to the contours, to join it.
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Though the traffic at either end of the urban strip, Kennedy Town and Sau K. Wan is, as stated, comparatively insignificant, improvements are never the less needed. At the west end, if Des Vœux is to be the main road, it will require a better connection to the Pok Fu Lam Road: there is also possibility of considerable suburban development at Mount Davis. At S Ki Wan, the country road beyond will become the main approach to the new developments (see Section 9) at Tai Tam. Steps must be taken to ensure that no ribbon building continues along this road.
At Kowloon there is much more opportunity for road improvement. The only through' Traffic of the Colony, which is in this case Approach Traffic from Canton, is encountered here which with the Tunnel will link up with the centre of Hong Kong. Obviously this volume of through Traffie from the centre of Hong Kong to China, should not pour down Nathan Road, wide though it is. Nathan Road in fact, should perform exactly the function of Des Voeux Henessy and King's Road in Hong Kong, as the central artery of urban traffio: and for this purpose its northern extension should not be Tai Po Road (reserved for main Approach traffic) but Cheung Sha Wan Road. This latter and Nathan Road should be given all the same aids to efficiency that have been recommended for Des Voeux Road.
For the Canton Hong Kong traffic a complete byepass is possible which can be treated as a really modern Arterial Road 1 from Tai Po Road near the Service Reservoir, to the Tunnel entrance at Tsim Sha Tsui.
* See Sir Alker Tripp's definition.
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