ENG-1990 — Page 283

TRANSPORT

Expenditure on highway projects was about $2,240 million, representing a nine per cent increase compared with 1989, while another $607 million was spent on improving and maintaining existing roads.

Strategic Road Network

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The spine of the strategic road system is Route 1, which runs from Aberdeen on the southern shore of Hong Kong Island and cuts through Kowloon peninsula to Lok Ma Chau Border Control Point in the northern New Territories. It passes through the Aberdeen, Cross-Harbour and Lion Rock Tunnels.

On Hong Kong Island, Route 8 runs along the northern shore from the Cross-Harbour Tunnel via the Island Eastern Corridor to Shau Kei Wan and Chai Wan in the east. Route 7 stretches from the Cross-Harbour Tunnel along the north shore, via Gloucester Road, Harcourt Road and Connaught Road to Hill Road at Kennedy Town in the west.

On the mainland, Route 2 runs from the Kowloon Bay Reclamation, through the Airport Tunnel, via the East and West Kowloon Corridors, Tsuen Wan Road, Tuen Mun Road and Yuen Long Northern Bypass to the junction of Castle Peak Road and Lok Ma Chau Border Link Road. Route 4 runs along the base of the foothills separating Kowloon from the New Territories and connects Kwun Tong and Lai Chi Kok. Another strategic road, Route 5, is a seven-kilometre two-way trunk road connecting Sha Tin with Tsuen Wan, completed in April 1990. It forms part of the New Territories Circular Road System.

The Eastern Harbour Crossing, which forms part of Route 6, opened in September 1989. The remaining sections of Route 6 include Kwun Tong Bypass, Tate's Cairn Tunnel and Road T6 linking Tate's Cairn Tunnel to Tolo Highway. All these projects are at an advanced construction stage. This route, due to be completed by mid-1991, is expected to greatly ease traffic congestion in the Lion Rock Tunnel. The Kwun Tong Bypass and Tate's Cairn Tunnel cost $1.82 billion and $2.65 billion respectively.

Route 3, which will provide a direct link between the north-western New Territories and Hong Kong Island via the Tai Lam Tunnel, Tsing Yi, West Kowloon Expressway and the Western Harbour Crossing, is another strategic route under investigation. A feasibility study to select the alignment of the section from the north-western New Territories to West Kowloon and another feasibility study for the Western Harbour Crossing were both completed in 1989 and 1990 respectively. A feasibility study for the West Kowloon Expressway also commenced in September 1990.

Improvements to Major Road Networks

On Hong Kong Island, the major project Route 7 was completed early in 1990. Route 7 provides two-way free-flow along Connaught Road from Harcourt Road to Hill Road, including the construction of two flyovers at Harcourt Road and Rumsey Street, an underpass at Pedder Street, widening of Connaught Road West and several footbridges.

In Kowloon, traffic conditions along Route 2 at Gascoigne Road have significantly improved with the completion of work on the Gascoigne Road Flyover. Route 1 has also been improved by the completion of the Princess Margaret Road Flyover reconstruction in mid-1989.

In the New Territories, remaining sections of the New Territories Circular Road from Pak Shek Au to Au Tau are being constructed in stages and will be completed in 1991. The first stage of a principal road link with China at Lok Ma Chau, which connects with

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