ENG-1994 — Page 303

TRANSPORT

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The private sector will build the section from Au Tau to Ting Kau under a franchise arrangement.

New Airport Access

The new airport at Chek Lap Kok and developments along the northwestern shore of Lantau require road links to facilitate access. Work is progressing well on all major highway projects related to the new airport. These include the Western Harbour Crossing, the West Kowloon Expressway, the Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi sections of Route 3, the Lantau Fixed Crossing and the North Lantau Expressway.

The Airport Core Programme also includes a rail link, which will provide both a fast and efficient train service to the new airport and a domestic service to relieve congestion at the Nathan Road Corridor of the Mass Transit Railway. The rail link will also serve new developments on the West Kowloon Reclamation and in Tung Chung new town. (For further details, see Chapter 16.)

Environmental Impact of Road Construction

The environmental impact of new road projects is carefully appraised at the planning stage by the Highways Department. Where practical, measures such as landscaping works, artificial contouring of surrounding hillsides and installation of noise barriers are considered. Measures taken include the application of decorative wall panels to the retaining wall of the Kowloon Park Drive Flyover project, and the installation of an enclosed-type noise barrier in a section of the Tate's Cairn Tunnel approach road near Richland Gardens in Kowloon Bay.

Where necessary, consideration is also given to providing air-conditioning units and double-glazing in domestic premises where noise levels cannot be brought within the required standard by other means.

Road Opening Works

Besides serving as carriageways for vehicles and pedestrians, the highways also accommodate various utility services, such as water and gas mains, sewers, and electricity and telephone cables. To cope with the increasing demand for utility services and main- tenance work, utility companies often have to excavate the carriageways and footpaths to lay more pipes, cables and ducts, and to carry out repair work. On average, there were about 200 new road openings on each working day in 1994. Road openings are co-ordinated and controlled by the Highways Department through a permit system, under which utility companies are required to carry out work to a required standard and within a time limit. To co-ordinate work more effectively and to minimise traffic disruption, the department holds monthly Road Opening Co-ordinating Committee meetings with the utility companies, the police and the Transport Department. Measures are being introduced to improve the management of road openings, so as to reduce their duration and frequency.

Tunnels

The management and operation of the five government-owned tunnels the Lion Rock Tunnel, Aberdeen Tunnel, Airport Tunnel, Shing Mun Tunnels and Tseung Kwan O Tunnel- have been contracted out to private operators to improve efficiency and to