ENG-1983 — Page 208

TRANSPORT

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major projects opened to traffic and several more at various stages of investigation, design and construction. Expenditure of the Highways Office of the Engineering Development Department was $900 million on major highway projects, with a further $150 million spent on improving and maintaining existing roads. At the end of the year, there were 1238 kilometres of carriageway in the territory: 360 on Hong Kong Island, 345 in Kowloon and 533 in the New Territories, representing an increase of 1.8 per cent over 1982.

On Hong Kong Island, the construction of the Island Eastern Corridor progressed well and is due for completion in 1986–7. This eight-kilometre high-speed urban road from Causeway Bay to Shau Kei Wan will greatly improve the traffic flow along the north shore of the island. Projects completed on Hong Kong Island in the year include the Tai Hang Road flyover, the second tube of the Aberdeen Tunnel, the widening of Pok Fu Lam Road in the west and the reconstruction of Ap Lei Chau main street. Significant major projects under investigation were Route 7 from Kennedy Town to-Aberdeen, Route 81 from Aberdeen to Stanley, an additional cross-harbour link at Lei Yue Mun, road links for the Kornhill development, Lau Sin Street flyover in Causeway Bay and the improvement to May Road including grade separation at the junction of Magazine Gap Road. Planning was also in progress for capacity improvements for Gloucester Road, Connaught Road Central and Connaught Road West, additional grade-separated accesses to Wan Chai reclamation, and transportation requirements for Mid-Levels and Central. Works in progress included the grade-separated interchange in Queensway to connect Central District with the development on the former Victoria Barracks site, the Pak Fuk Road extension, the Gloucester Road flyover in Causeway Bay, the widening of Tai Hang Road from Lai Tak Tsuen Road to connect with the Tai Hang Road flyover and the widening of Garden Road and Cotton Tree Drive.

In Kowloon, a more direct route to central Kwun Tong from the Cross-Harbour Tunnel is now possible with the completion of the flyover link on Kwun Tong Road. One of the major bottlenecks on the Northeast Kowloon Corridor was eliminated when the last section of Lung Cheung Road was converted to dual carriageway. Further east, there was marked improvement to traffic flow in the Kowloon Bay area when a major new interchange was opened to traffic. Construction of another interchange system in the vicinity was progressing well and, on completion in 1984, will further improve traffic flow in the area. Much headway has been made with the construction of the grade-separated interchange along Waterloo Road at its junction with Cornwall Street and Junction Road. The opening of the section of West Kowloon Corridor between Cherry Street and Yen Chow Street has helped to smooth the traffic flow between Tai Kok Tsui and Sham Shui Po. Active planning and design work continued for the elevated vehicular link between east and west Kowloon Tong and the improvement to Gascoigne Road and Chatham Road.

In the New Territories, work on the New Territories Trunk Road and the Circular Road improvement, from Sha Tin to Fan Kam Road, progressed satisfactorily. Projects completed during the year included the dual carriageway from Yuen Long to Au Tau, the second carriageway of Tuen Mun Road providing a dual three-lane link between Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan, the grade-separated interchange at Pillar Island and the widening of Cheong Wing Road and Kwai Tsing Road in Tsuen Wan. Under construction was the grade-separated interchange to replace the roundabout at the junction of Tuen Mun Road and Pui To Road, the Castle Peak Road/Tai Ho Road intersection in Tsuen Wan and the re-alignment of Po Lam Road to form the initial access to Junk Bay New Town.

On the New Territories Circular Road improvement, design was completed for the section from Au Tau to Fan Kam Road. In the south, consultants were appointed to design