ENG-1962 — Page 306

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COMMUNICATIONS

Lo Wu numbered 772,556 and the majority of these travelled between Hong Kong and China. In the British section there are eight diesel electric locomotives and one steam locomotive, one rail-bus, 65 passenger coaches and 210 wagons.

Typhoon Wanda caused extensive damage to the railway em- bankment and seawall between Sha Tin and Tai Po Market stations -a distance of some seven miles-and the track was closed for five days.

ROADS

The volume of traffic on the Colony's roads continued to in- crease, necessitating the construction of new roads and the im- provement and reconstruction of existing roads. Routine surfacing, improvement and reconstruction of existing roads cost $9 million, while a large number of major works were carried out at a cost of just over $17 million. Extensions to main roads serving in- dustrial and housing schemes continued, and work on feeder roads to link further agricultural areas in the New Territories also went ahead. The total length of all roads in the Colony maintained by Government reached 524 miles, an increase of eight miles over 1961. The total is made up of 192 miles of road on Hong Kong Island, 141 miles in Kowloon and 191 miles in the New Territories.

On Hong Kong Island many sub-standard secondary roads were reconstructed in concrete to meet anticipated traffic requirements. At the western end of Victoria city work started on a two-lane carriageway over a 1,400 yard stretch of Victoria Road. This is designed to remove the traffic hazards which exist on the present narrow and sinuous route. Work on a new road to join Wong Nei Chong Road with the Shouson Hill area also made good progress and it is anticipated that it will provide a useful link to the Aberdeen area.

In the New Territories improvements to Castle Peak Road between Kowloon and Tsuen Wan were continued. Two further sections were completed and work on widening the last section to a dual carriageway was started late in the year. Owing to the restricted nature of the site it is expected to take two years to complete this work, but when it is completed traffic conditions on this, the most important arterial road in the Colony, will be considerably improved.