Urban Road Infrastructure

– Jack

1. Road Development

Road development has begun since the reclamation of Gin Drinker’s Bay in the late 1960s. Additional district development projects, namely Kwai Chung Container Terminals and Tsuen Wan New Town Development, have also been initiated during the 1970s. This has led to rapid and intensive road development across at various levels from the 70s to 80s.

1.1 Road connections

 

Kwai Chung is the transport hub of Hong Kong, with major connections to all districts.

1.2 Road Hierarchy

 

Roads in Hong Kong follow a certain hierarchy. From the greatest scale: Expressway, Trunk Road, Primary Road (District Distributor Road), Local Distributor Roads

As such, Kwai Chung is one of the districts with the greatest number of Expressways / Trunk Roads.

1.3 Future projects

Tuen Mun – Chek Lap Kok Link is a project to be completed by 2020. An ease in traffic may be observed in Kwai Chung soon after.

2. Vehicles

2.1 Vehicle demographics

 

Kwai Chung supports a large number of logistics due to the container terminal and industrial buildings. A large proportion of vehicles in Kwai Chung are light and heavy trucks.

 

9% of goods vehicles (Trucks) originate and destinate at Kwai Chung.

2.2 Vehicle pollution NO2 and particulates exceed Air Quality Objectives (AQOs).

3. Traffic Congestion

Traffic congestion often occurs along Tsuen Wan Road (Route 3), Hing Fong Road and Kwai Fuk Road.

4. Car Accidents

Kwai Tsing District has one of the largest car accidents numbers in Hong Kong.
Junction blacksite: Tsuen Tsing Interchange, Tsuen Wan Road

opportunities and constraints

Not accounting for the existing road issues in Kwai Chung, there are major opportunities from roads’ dominance in the district, including: Roads and transportation can be seen as a leading tool in district development to popularize unused spaces Roads’ spatial occupancy can be freed up to pedestrians for socio-economic, environmental, and walkability benefits Technological advancement in the automobile industry Unused spaces under flyovers However, there are also constraints to road-related development projects: Minimal disturbances to major roads due to economic importance Ecological impacts from roadworks PlanD Spaces under flyovers regulations HyD Road Gradient Regulations Points of conflict

Footnote :

  1. Civil Engineering and Development Department (2015). Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Flyover from Kwai Tsing Interchange Upramp to Kwai Chung Road. Retrieved from: https://www.epd.gov.hk/eia/register/report/eiareport/eia_2282015/HTML_June%202015/Top%20Index.htm
  2. Planning Department (2018), Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. Chapter 8-12. Retrieved from: https://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/tech_doc/hkpsg/
  3. Transport Department Road Safety and Standards Division (2020). Junction Blacksites of 2020 First Quarter. Retrieved from: https://www.td.gov.hk/filemanager/tc/content_2042/junctionblacksite_internet_chi.pdf
  4. Transport Department (2020). Monthly Traffic and Transport Digest 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.td.gov.hk/en/transport_in_hong_kong/transport_figures/monthly_traffic_and_transport_digest/2020/202007/index.html
  5. Transport Department (2019). Road Traffic Accidents by District Council District and Severity in 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.td.gov.hk/filemanager/tc/content_4994/fig2.6c.pdf