Lai Chi Kok Bridge 荔枝角大橋 | |
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Coordinates | 22°20′15″N114°08′15″E / 22.3374°N 114.1375°E |
Carries | Vehicles, pedestrians |
Locale | Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong |
Owner | Hong Kong Government |
Maintained by | Highways Department |
Characteristics | |
Material | Concrete |
Total length | 2,600 feet (790 m) |
No. of spans | 29 |
No. of lanes | 6 |
History | |
Designer | Scott and Wilson, Kirkpatrick and Partners |
Constructed by | Paul Y. Construction |
Construction start | 1966 |
Construction cost | HK$13.5 million |
Inaugurated | 29 October 1968 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 82,560 (2016) |
Location | |
Lai Chi Kok Bridge | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 荔枝角大橋 | ||||||
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Lai Chi Kok Bridge is a Hong Kong bridge that carries the Kwai Chung Road,part of Route 5,linking Kowloon to Kwai Chung,New Territories.
The bridge,once the longest in Hong Kong,spanned Lai Chi Kok Bay,which was later filled in. It continues as an elevated road through Mei Foo Sun Chuen,a private housing estate. The former bay (below the bridge) is now Lai Chi Kok Park as well as Mei Foo station of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR).
The name is sometimes rendered as Laichikok Bridge in English. [1] The Transport Department traffic census refers to it as the Lai Chi Kok Bay Bridge. [2] [3] It is also called the Kwai Chung Road Flyover in some government sources,but confusingly this name is also sometimes used to describe a different flyover farther west on Kwai Chung Road,close to Kwai Fong Estate. [4] [5]
The bridge was built to link Kowloon with ongoing industrial and new town development in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung,providing an alternative to the older,congested Castle Peak Road. [6] Construction began in 1966. [7] Built at a cost of about HK$13.5 million,the new bridge,then Hong Kong's longest,was officially opened on 29 October 1968 by acting governor Michael David Irving Gass. [8] Kwai Chung Road was built along the coastline to the west of the bridge at the same time in order to complete the new link to Kwai Chung. [6]
Mei Foo Sun Chuen,a private housing estate with 99 residential blocks,was developed roughly at the same time. Lai Chi Kok Bridge continues through the estate as an elevated roadway. Various amenities were built under the bridge here,including the community's wet market,bus terminus,an open plaza,and a community centre. [9]
In 1975,the Hong Kong Government announced plans to reclaim Lai Chi Kok Bay,providing a park on the new land to help resolve the scarcity of public recreational space in the area. It said the bay,popular with swimmers,was badly polluted and constituted a health hazard. [10] The bay was subsequently filled in,meaning the bridge no longer spans any water and simply resembles an elevated road. The bridge required underpinning to contend with additional loading imposed by the new fill. [11]
In the 1990s,the Urban Council developed the new land directly under the bridge as the Lai Chi Kok Park Stage II. From 1999 to 2003,an extension of Mei Foo station was constructed as part of the West Rail project,adding new railway platforms and a new ticketing concourse. These new structures were built directly below the Lai Chi Kok Bridge,causing the bridge to shift slightly. [12]
The bridge is a 2600-foot-long concrete structure with 29 spans. [6] It was designed by Scott and Wilson,Kirkpatrick and Partners together with the former Public Works Department of the Hong Kong Government,and built by Paul Y. Construction. [1] [13]
The bridge deck carries three vehicular lanes in each direction. Part of the bridge (the part that spanned the former bay) also has pavements on both sides of the carriageway. There are two slip roads partway along the bridge –one allows eastbound traffic to exit onto Cheung Sha Wan Road,while the other allows westbound traffic to enter the bridge from Lai Chi Kok Road. [14]
According to the Transport Department,the part of the bridge that spanned the bay (i.e. west of the slip roads) registered annual average daily traffic (AADT) of 82,740 in 2017. [2]
The bridge bisects Mei Foo Sun Chuen,and parts of the road pass very closely to residential blocks. As a result,some residents have long complained that the road constitutes a noise nuisance. In 2000,the Hong Kong Government announced a policy to implement noise reduction strategies at flyovers that pass close to buildings,including constructing acoustic barriers and resurfacing roads with "low-noise material". [4] Under this policy,the Lai Chi Kok Bridge was resurfaced in the early 2000s. However,the government said that adding noise barriers was not feasible as the road structure cannot support the added weight. Further,it said that there was no space for a separate noise barrier structure,and the barriers would obstruct firefighting in the event of a fire. [15] [4]
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km2 (111,450/sq mi) in 2006. It is one of the three regions of Hong Kong,along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories,and is the smallest,second most populous and most densely populated.
The Tsuen Wan line is one of the ten lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map.
Mei Foo is a Hong Kong MTR station located in Mei Foo Sun Chuen,Lai Chi Kok,New Kowloon. It is the only interchange station between the Tsuen Wan line and the Tuen Ma line,situated between Lai Chi Kok and Lai King stations on the Tsuen Wan line and Nam Cheong and Tsuen Wan West stations on the Tuen Ma line. Mei Foo station's colour is blue.
Mei Foo Sun Chuen or simply Mei Foo is a large private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok,Kowloon,Hong Kong. Mei Foo Sun Chuen was the first large scale private housing estate in Hong Kong and at the time of completion,the 99-tower complex was considered the largest private housing development in the world,accommodating some 70,000 –80,000 people in 13,500 apartments. It is considered to be one of the world's largest privately financed residential condominium projects.
Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the second poorest district by income in Hong Kong,with a predominantly working-class population of 405,869 in 2016 and the lowest median household income of all districts. Sham Shui Po has long been home to poorer new immigrants from China. It also saw the birth of public housing in Hong Kong,as the government sought to resettle those displaced by a devastating fire in its slums. Sham Shui Po also hosted a Vietnamese refugee camp during the influx of migration in the aftermath of the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
Lai Chi Kok is a neighbourhood in Kowloon,Hong Kong,east of Kwai Chung and west of Cheung Sha Wan. Mei Foo Sun Chuen is the largest housing estate in the area and also the largest in Hong Kong with 99 blocks. Administratively,it belongs to Sham Shui Po District.
West Kowloon Corridor is part of Route 5 in Hong Kong. Bypassing existing surface roads in West Kowloon,it connects Lai Chi Kok Road in Cheung Sha Wan with the Gascoigne Road Flyover near Yau Ma Tei.
Lai Chi Kok Road is a road in western Kowloon,Hong Kong. It links Lai Chi Kok to Mong Kok,via Tai Kok Tsui,Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan. It starts from a junction with Nathan Road near Pioneer Centre in the south and ends near Mei Foo Sun Chuen. The road is bidirectional except the section at Lai Chi Kok,between the junction with Butterfly Valley Road and Mei Foo Sun Chuen,where it serves New Territories-bound traffic only. The Kowloon-bound traffic uses Cheung Sha Wan Road,separated by the flyover of Kwai Chung Road. The road once hosted shipyards,fish,meat and vegetable wholesale markets,which were moved closer to the coast after extensive reclamation.
Kwai Chung Road is a throughway in Kwai Chung of the New Territories in Hong Kong. It is one of the busiest roads in Hong Kong. The Transport Department has classified it as a trunk road.
Route 5 is a strategic route in Hong Kong from eastern to western Kowloon and New Kowloon,and ends in Tsuen Wan in the New Territories where it connects to 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".
Wah Lai Estate is a public housing estate in Lai Chi Kok,Kowloon,Hong Kong. It consists of a total of two residential blocks completed in 2001.
The following is an overview of Public housing estates in Kwai Chung,Hong Kong,including Home Ownership Scheme (HOS),Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS),Sandwich Class Housing Scheme (SCHS),Flat-for-Sale Scheme (FFSS),and Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates.
Nob Hill is a private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok,Kowloon,Hong Kong,located at the former site of Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park,together with Wah Lai Estate and Lai Yan Court. It has three residential blocks and a shopping centre. It was jointly developed by Cheung Kong Holdings and Far East Hotels and Entertainment in 2002.
Mei Foo Ferry Pier was a ferry pier in Mei Foo Sun Chuen,Lai Chi Kok,Kowloon,Hong Kong,located outside Block 6 of the estate.
Lai Chi Kok Park is a large public park in Hong Kong,on the reclamation of former Lai Chi Kok Bay adjacent to Mei Foo,stretching along the Kwai Chung Road motorway. The park is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government.