COMMUNICATIONS
267
Statistics for 1957 (with figures for 1956 in brackets) are
as follows:
Length of line
Main points of call Passengers carried
Freight carried
Passenger miles
:
Main line-22 miles
Total length of line-35 miles
New Territories (Hong Kong) 5,630,519 (4,879,626)
: 203,954.41 tons (215,726)
73,299,030 (65,435,406)
ROADS
With the construction during the year of 13 miles of new road, the total length of roads now exceeds 463 miles. The Colony has many hilly roads which are both tortuous and steep; gradients of 1 in 7 are common; and there is more than half a mile of stepped streets, mostly in Western District on the Island, closed to vehicular traffic. Most roads are paved and compare favourably with those of any English city.
Details of the lengths of different types of paving are as follows:
Island Kowloon
New Total Territories Miles
Concrete:
(a) Unsurfaced
2
3
1
6
(b) With bitumen surface
64.5
32
17
113.5
Bitumen Macadam
74
24
70
Water-bound Macadam
36
61
53
Earth
9.5
4
22
168
150
12
25.5
Steps
.5
.5
Total miles
186.5
124
153
463.5
Traffic has increased over the past few years until today there are some 33,000 vehicles. If these were spaced equally round all the roads of the Colony, there would be only 20 yards of space between each vehicle. Since, however, only a small proportion of the roads carries most of the daily traffic, the increase in traffic, and in particular the extension of bus routes, has made road maintenance a serious problem, the carrying capacity of many roads being unequal to the
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