ENG-1988 — Page 258

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TRANSPORT

Under construction are the access road for Ma Chai Hang and Chuk Yuen, Princess Margaret Road Flyover improvement, extension of Gascoigne Road Flyover to span over the junction of Gascoigne Road and Wylie Road, two one-way flyovers linking Kai Tak Airport Passenger Terminal Building with the eastbound carriageway of Prince Edward Road East, Tai Po Road improvement and the reconstruction of Kwun Tong Road.

Tunnels

The Lion Rock Tunnel, which links Kowloon to Sha Tin and the north-eastern New Territories opened in 1967 with a single tube. A second tube was added in 1978. Traffic in this tunnel increased to 102 000 vehicles a day by the end of 1988, and during peak hours traffic volume reached the tunnel capacity, causing increasing delays, particularly in the morning rush hour. Various traffic management measures have been introduced, including tidal flow and signal-controlled merging measures. Other traffic management measures will be introduced in 1989.

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The Aberdeen Tunnel, opened in 1982, links the north and south sides of Hong Kong Island. The average daily traffic is 45 000 vehicles.

The toll-free Airport Tunnel provides direct road access from the central area of Kowloon to Hong Kong International Airport, and also crosses underneath the airport runway to Kwun Tong. Since the tunnel opened in June 1982, the volume of traffic using it has been increasing steadily and now averages about 47 000 vehicles per day.

The Cross-Harbour Tunnel, opened in 1972, runs beneath the harbour between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon peninsula. The tunnel's traffic increased over the years to such an extent that, with an average of 116 000 vehicles using it each day in 1988, it became the world's busiest four-lane facility. The government had conducted a traffic study in mid-1988 which resulted in traffic management schemes being effected at both approaches of the tunnel to ease the growing congestion.

Construction work is being carried out on three new tunnels. The Eastern Harbour Crossing, a commercial venture undertaken by the New Hong Kong Tunnel Company, will link Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island and Cha Kwo Ling in Kowloon by means of an immersed twin-tube crossing incorporating both road and rail (MTR) links. This tunnel will begin operation in the third quarter of 1989. The other road tunnels being built by the government are the Shing Mun Tunnel (formerly known as Route 5 Tunnel), linking Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan, and the Junk Bay Tunnels from Kwun Tong to Junk Bay New Town, both due for completion in 1990. Construction work also started on the Tate's Cairn Tunnel, linking Diamond Hill in Kowloon to Sha Tin in the New Territories. The consortium responsible for this project expects work to be completed in late 1991.

Traffic Management and Control

About 800 sets of traffic signals were in operation in the territory, including 260 sets in Kowloon under centralised computer control. Work on the expansion of the Kowloon Area Traffic Control System to Kwun Tong and Wong Tai Sin continued and should be commissioned in mid-1989. By that time, about 320 sets of traffic signals in Kowloon will be under computer control. In 1988, the CCTV system forming part of the Kowloon Area Traffic Control System was also expanded from 10 to 25 out-station camera locations.

A new computer system was commissioned for the Hong Kong Island Final Area Traffic Control System at the end of 1988. It controls about 170 sets of traffic light signals on the north shore of the Island from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan. A traffic responsive system called SCOOT was installed in parts of the Causeway Bay and Central areas, a performance assessment of which will be carried out in 1989.