Overview | |||||||||||||
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Official name | Kai Tak Tunnel | ||||||||||||
Other name(s) | Airport Tunnel | ||||||||||||
Location | Kowloon, Hong Kong | ||||||||||||
Status | Active | ||||||||||||
Route | Part of Route 5 | ||||||||||||
Start | Ma Tau Kok | ||||||||||||
End | Kowloon Bay | ||||||||||||
Operation | |||||||||||||
Opened | 29 June 1982 | ||||||||||||
Operator | Great Lucky Company Limited | ||||||||||||
Traffic | Vehicular | ||||||||||||
Character | Limited-access | ||||||||||||
Toll | No | ||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||
No. of lanes | 4 lanes (2 lanes per direction) | ||||||||||||
Operating speed | 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) | ||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 啟德隧道 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 启德隧道 | ||||||||||||
Jyutping | Kai2 dak1 seoi6 dou6 | ||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Kái dāk seuih douh | ||||||||||||
Hanyu Pinyin | Qǐdé Suìdào | ||||||||||||
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Airport Tunnel | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 機場隧道 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 机场隧道 | ||||||||||||
Jyutping | Gei1 coeng4 seoi6 dou6 | ||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Gēi chèuhng seuih douh | ||||||||||||
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Kai Tak Tunnel, formerly known as the Airport Tunnel, is a tunnel in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, which connects the Kowloon Bay and Ma Tau Kok areas by going beneath the former Hong Kong International Airport (Kai Tak Airport). It is part of Route 5.
The tunnel provides a quick link between the two ends of the tunnel, as before the construction of the tunnel vehicles had to detour through Kowloon City to reach the other end. [1] [2] Kai Tak Tunnel is currently managed by Greater Lucky (H.K.) Company Limited.
Construction of the tunnel had started by 1975, [3] but because of the difficulties in digging under the airport runway, it was not complete until 1982. The southern tube opened to two-way traffic at 3:00 pm on 29 June 1982. [4] The second (northern) tube opened on 8 October that year. [5] The Airport Tunnel was the first tunnel in Hong Kong to be toll-free, [2] excluding short underpasses.
With Kai Tak Airport's shutdown in 1998, the Airport Tunnel was no longer fulfilled to its name. The Hong Kong Government announced to rename to Kai Tak Tunnel on 2 March 2006 that the tunnel, effective from 4 May 2006, after several years of consultation with groups including the Kowloon City District Council. The name was changed to commemorate the former Kai Tak International Airport. [6]
The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes of about 7 metres diameter each, 1.26 km long. The southern tube carries west-bound traffic from Kowloon Bay to Ma Tau Kok. A point of interest is that the eastbound tunnel branches off onto Sung Wong Toi Road. [7] It is the only major vehicular tunnel in Hong Kong built entirely by the cut-and-cover technique. [2]
Many major express bus routes of Kowloon Motor Bus and New World First Bus between Kowloon and the eastern end of New Kowloon travel through the Kai Tak Tunnel. Most of them run between the Kwun Tong District or Sai Kung District and Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom. They include 13X, 213X, 224X, 98D, 98P, 14X, 215X, 219X, 296D, 297, 796P. Westbound departures of routes 11X and 28 and peak hour cross harbour tunnel bus route 101X and Hong Kong High Speed Rail feeder bus route W2, also runs through Kai Tak Tunnel. In total, an estimated 60000 vehicles use the tunnel each day. [7]
Hong Kong has a highly developed and sophisticated transport network, encompassing both public and private transport. Based on Hong Kong Government's Travel Characteristics Survey, over 90% of the daily journeys are on public transport, the highest rate in the world. However, in 2014 the Transport Advisory Committee, which advises the Government on transportation issues, issued a report on the much worsened congestion problem in Hong Kong and pointed at the excessive growth of private cars during the past 10–15 years.
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km2 in 2006, it is the most populous urban area in Hong Kong. The peninsula's area is about 47 km2 (18 sq mi).
Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District.
Kai Tak Airport(IATA: HKG, ICAO: VHHH) was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Kai Tak and Kai Tak International Airport, to distinguish it from its successor, which may be referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport, built on reclaimed and levelled land around the islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau, 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the west.
Kowloon Bay is a body of water within Victoria Harbour and an area within Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Hung Hom is an area in the southeast of Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Including the area of Whampoa, Tai Wan, Hok Yuen, Lo Lung Hang and No. 12 Hill are administratively part of the Kowloon City District, with a portion west of Hung Hom Bay in the Yau Tsim Mong District. Hung Hom serves mainly residential purposes, but it is mixed with some industrial buildings in the north.
To Kwa Wan is a bay and an area of the eastern shore of Kowloon peninsula. The area is part of urban Hong Kong, and is situated between Hok Yuen, Hung Hom, Ma Tau Wai and Ma Tau Kok. Administratively, the area belongs to the Kowloon City District of Kowloon.
Argyle Street is a four-lane dual-way thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, connecting the districts of Mong Kok, Ho Man Tin, Ma Tau Wai and Kowloon City. It runs on an east-west alignment starting at its intersection with Cherry Street, Ferry Street and Tong Mi Road in the west, and ending near the former Kai Tak Airport in the east. Due to the street's proximity with the latter, a variety of aircraft could be seen from this street and thus photographers seized the opportunity to capture landing aircraft.
Lam Tin is an area in the Kwun Tong District in southeastern New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Lam Tin is primarily a residential area but also hosts a major transport interchange and several shopping attractions. Lam Tin was once a large field in the vicinity of Kowloon Bay. During the Song dynasty, it was a site of salt production. Since the 1980s, a number of housing estates were constructed in Lam Tin.
The Kwun Tong Bypass is an elevated expressway between Lam Tin and Kowloon Bay in Kwun Tong District, Kowloon East, Hong Kong, with three lanes in each direction and a posted speed limit of 70-80 kilometres per hour. It is part of Route 2 and has links to Route 5 and Route 7. It bypasses the industrial township of Kwun Tong and passes next to the boundary of the Kai Tak Airport.
Prince Edward Road East and Prince Edward Road West are roads in Kowloon, Hong Kong, going in an east-west direction and linking Tai Kok Tsui, Mong Kok, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon City and San Po Kong.
Ma Tau Kok is a place north of To Kwa Wan, south-east of modern day Ma Tau Chung and south-west of the former Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. It was a cape in Kowloon Bay in Victoria Harbour and opposite to the Sacred Hill and the mouth of Ma Tau Chung. Ma Tau Kok is a mixed industrial and residential area.
Route 5 is a route artery in Hong Kong from eastern to western Kowloon and New Kowloon, and ends in Tsuen Wan in the New Territories, linking Route 9. It is one of the most seriously congested routes in Kowloon, as it serves as an interchange to the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, especially during peak hours.
The Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System is a system adopted by the Transport Department of the Hong Kong Government to organise the major roads in the territory into routes 1 to 10 for the convenience of drivers. When the system was implemented in 2004, the government promoted it with a major public campaign, including the slogan "Remember the Numbers; Make Driving Easier".
Kwun Tong Road is a major thoroughfare in Kwun Tong District, New Kowloon, Hong Kong.
East Kowloon Corridor is a highway in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Route 5. It is a dual two-lane carriageway running from the exit of Kai Tak Tunnel near Sung Wong Toi Road to its junction with Ma Tau Wai Road in Hung Hom, where both roads are succeeded by Chatham Road.
Grand Waterfront is a private housing estate and a shopping mall in Ma Tau Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, near Kowloon City Ferry Pier. Formerly a Hong Kong and China Gas towngas plant, the estate consists of five 57-storey high-rise buildings and a shopping arcade. It was jointly developed by Henderson Land Development and Hong Kong and China Towngas and completed in 2007.
The Kai Tak Development, abbreviated as "KTD" and formerly called South East Kowloon Development (東南九龍發展計劃), refers to the redevelopment of the former Kai Tak Airport site in Kai Tak, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Kowloon Urban Route No. 20 is a Hong Kong bus route operated by Citybus, plying between Kai Tak and Tai Kok Tsui.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kai Tak Tunnel . |
Preceded by Kai Fuk Road | Hong Kong Route 5 Kai Tak Tunnel | Succeeded by East Kowloon Corridor |
Coordinates: 22°19′27.49″N114°11′37.66″E / 22.3243028°N 114.1937944°E