Highways Department responds to BUZZ post on possible changes to Hiram’s Highway Stage 2 plans

On 14 October we published a story by BUZZ Roving Reporter Guy Shirra featuring a letter he wrote to Highways Department concerning Hiram’s Highway Stage 2 and its impact on Sai Kung Town. Here is the reply.

Dear Mr Shirra,

Hiram’s Highway Improvement Stage 2 Project

Hiram’s Highway (HH) together with Po Tung Road form the only major route connecting Sai Kung Town to East Kowloon and Tseung Kwan O.  At present, the traffic volume of the section of HH between Marina Cove and Sai Kung Town as well as Po Tung Road during peak hours has been already over their design capacities.  We anticipate that the traffic conditions of the concerned road sections will deteriorate during peak hours in 2037.  According to the traffic impact assessment, upon completion of the project, the journey time from Sai Kung Town to Clear Water Bay Road during peak hours will be reduced from about 35 to 40 minutes to about 20 minutes.

Currently, the sections of HH between Marina Cove and Sai Kung Town as well as Po Tung Road are single two-lane carriageways, with one Sai Kung bound lane and one Kowloon bound lane.  In case of incidents such as traffic accidents or emergency maintenance works which occupy any one of the traffic lanes, both Sai Kung bound and Kowloon bound traffic can only use the remaining traffic lane, resulting in traffic congestion.

Under the HH Improvement Stage 2 Project, one additional traffic lane will be provided in each bound of HH between Marina Cove and Sai Kung Town as well as Po Tung Road in order to relieve the traffic congestion, to cope with the anticipated traffic growth and to enhance the resilience of the concerned roads to unforeseen situation.  The project will alleviate traffic congestion in the Sai Kung District during holidays and peak travel seasons, and increase the District’s capability to receive visitors to the “back garden of Hong Kong”.

In addition to increasing the road capacity, we will also enhance the road layout of the HH and improve sightlines for road users.  To improve accessibility for pedestrians and those in need, we will widen most of the footpaths along the road to two metre-wide as far as practical, and provide additional bus bays along the roads.  We will also take the opportunity to replace the aged watermains and drainage/sewerage pipes.  We will also upgrade a section of Po Tung Road and Tai Mong Tsai Road (between Fuk Man Road and Wai Man Road) to a single two-lane carriageway in accordance with current standards.

Since 2013, HyD has consulted Sai Kung District Council (SKDC) and key stakeholders along HH, Po Tung Road and Tai Mong Tsai Road on the project on multiple occasions to gauge the public’s views.  Successive SKDCs had also been pursuing with the Government for many years for improvement of the concerned road sections of HH.

Your Proposals on Reviewing the Road Widening Works

According to the traffic impact assessment, the performance of the section of Po Tung Road between Yau Ma Po Street and Fuk Man Road will be the worst among all sections of HH and Po Tung Road during peak hours in 2037.  Hence there is a genuine need for widening this road section to a dual two-lane carriageway.  On the other hand, the design capacities of the sections of Po Tung Road and Tai Mong Tsai Road (between Fuk Man Road and Wai Man Road) are anticipated to be sufficient in coping with the anticipated traffic growth and, therefore, these road sections will remain to be a single-two carriageway but will be upgraded in accordance with current standards.

Your Concerns about the Sai Kung Community

HyD has consulted relevant stakeholders on a number of occasions to collect the public’s views and comments for optimising the design of the project to better respond to the needs of the public and to minimise the impact.  The proposed widening works of Po Tung Road will mainly make use of the existing amenity areas for conversion to carriageways with minimum extent of private land resumption as far as practicable.

Regarding the connectivity between both sides of the road in Sai Kung Town, please be assured that at-grade pedestrian crossing facilities will be maintained during construction and reprovided permanently at the existing locations after completion of the road widening works.

To minimise the environmental impact during construction, HyD will implement suitable mitigation measures, including the adoption of quiet powered mechanical equipment, movable temporary noise barriers and regular water spraying at works sites to minimise the noise impact and dust generation during construction.  Moreover, the construction works will not cause significant traffic impact and the existing number of traffic lanes will be maintained during peak hours.

We will maintain close liaison with the local community.  A Community Liaison Group is established and a telephone hotline 5330 5232 is set up.

Lastly, thank you very much for your valuable suggestions to the project.  We truly understand your concerns about the project as well as the Sai Kung community.  Should you have any enquiries about the project, please feel free to contact me at 2762 4067 or our project team at 5330 5232.

Regards,
Marcus M W CHENG
Senior Engineer 1/Hiram’s Highway