ENG-1977 — Page 221

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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT

Commissioner for Transport to hear cases involving suspension of motor vehicle licen- ces because of illegal operation of the vehicles.

Traffic Management and Planning

Application of traffic management techniques continued in an effort to facilitate move- ment on the existing road network and to meet changes in traffic demands. A major scheme was introduced in Western district involving changes in the traffic routing of a number of streets and the installation of light signals at the junction of Des Voeux Road West and Connaught Road West. Elsewhere, vehicular movements were helped with the introduction of clearways, junction improvements, traffic signals, road widen- ing schemes and traffic re-routing. Footbridges and subways were constructed and zebra and light signal crossings were installed to aid pedestrians.

By the end of the year, 352 sets of traffic signals were in operation and the street lighting system also had been expanded with the addition of 1,223 new lamps. A major advance in the rationalisation of traffic signal operation was the commissioning in March of the area traffic control computer system in West Kowloon. The system monitors and controls traffic signals at 83 junctions in a busy commercial area. It also provides for the automatic collection of traffic data, for automatic fault reporting and for the institution of signal settings giving a 'green wave' through adjacent junctions to eliminate delays to emergency vehicles.

In the field of transport planning and surveys, a team of engineers and statisticians updated various aspects of the Hong Kong Comprehensive Transport Study as cir- cumstances changed and new proposals for development were put forward. A report was published on a study of the traffic implications of the construction of a bridge linking Lantau Island with the mainland, including the implications of proposals to develop an international airport and other facilities on the island. Good progress was made on transportation studies in Tuen Mun New Town. Studies of car journey times, speed limits, goods vehicle movements at the new air cargo terminal, and the origin and destination of passenger trips on cross-harbour ferries also were completed.

The rapidly-changing problems associated with the construction of the mass transit railway in Hong Kong and Kowloon involved the multi-disciplinary traffic manage- ment group in a number of radical changes in the strategic traffic plan designed to facilitate the building of the railway. These were successfully introduced, monitored and amended throughout the year as part of a programme of activity undertaken to reduce potential sources of delay in the construction of the railway. The planning and co-ordination of traffic management schemes to facilitate the construction of the mass transit railway extension to Lai Chi Kok and Tsuen Wan began early in the year in anticipation of the start of construction work in mid-1978.

Licensing

At the Transport Department's vehicle examination centre, 44,569 vehicles were in- spected during the year for various purposes, but mainly in connection with registra- tion and re-licensing of vehicles.

The number of registered vehicles, which dropped for two consecutive years in 1974 and 1975, rose again in 1976 and the upward trend was maintained during the year, rising to 207,521. This was 15,775 more than in 1976. The bulk of the increase was