Tuen Mun Road | |
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Part of Route 9 | |
Route information | |
Maintained by Highways Department | |
Length | 19.4 km (12.1 mi) |
Existed | 1978–present |
Major junctions | |
West end | Tuen Mun (near Fu Tei) |
9; Route 3 at Ting Kau Route 5 at Tsuen Wan | |
East end | Tsuen Wan (near Chai Wan Kok) |
Location | |
Country | China |
Special administrative region | Hong Kong |
Highway system | |
Tuen Mun Road | |||||||||||||||
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Chinese | 屯門公路 | ||||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | tyun4 mun4 gung1 lou6 | ||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Tuen Mun public road/ Tuen Mun Highway | ||||||||||||||
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Tuen Mun Road is a major expressway in Hong Kong which connects Tuen Mun with Tsuen Wan,within the New Territories. It is part of Hong Kong's Route 9,which circumnavigates the New Territories. Opened in 1978,it was once the major trunk route linking the northwest New Territories to urban Kowloon and is known for its frequent traffic jams and road accidents owing to its early design and heavy usage. As a result,speed limits have been enforced to 70–80 km/h (45–50 mph) due to geometric constraints.
The highway leads off Yuen Long Highway at Lam Tei Interchange,where it also interchanges with Castle Peak Road and Tsing Lun Road. The next section (considered from west to east) is a dual 3 lane road through the town centre of Tuen Mun,but this section is not a statutorily designated (limited-access) expressway.
Expressway regulations apply from the junction with Wong Chu Road,where it widens to 3 lanes and climbs the hillside beside Sam Shing Hui. It then descends into So Kwun Wat,crossing the rural area on an embankment. The road then rises again before descending into Siu Lam Interchange,where it interchanges with Castle Peak Road.
From here,the highway crosses the mouth of Tai Lam Chung,and starts climbing the hillsides of Tai Lam through split level terraces (the lower one being the Tuen Mun bound carriageway). The two carriageways join before bypassing the village of Tsing Lung Tau to the north. This section of road is constructed upon various deep cuttings and high embankments. Afterwards,the road crosses over the village of Sham Tseng (situated in a valley) to Sham Tseng Interchange,where it interchanges once again with Castle Peak Road.
The road then climbs towards Ting Kau Interchange with its widest section (5+3 lanes). After this junction with Tsing Long Highway,the Highway crosses the valley of Ting Kau with various viaducts,with the Tsuen Wan bound carriageway climbing to meet the split level section into Tsuen Wan. This section is characterised by its tight bends and steep descent eastbound. The two carriageways join as the highway terminates and leads into Cheung Pei Shan Road,with slip roads connecting with Tsuen Wan Road and Castle Peak Road (Tsuen Wan Section).
This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table.(November 2021) |
Tuen Mun Road | ||
Westbound exits | Exit number | Eastbound exits |
Lam Tei Interchange continues as Yuen Long Highway | ||
End Tuen Mun Road | Start Tuen Mun Road | |
Tsing Tin Interchange Tai Hing Tsing Tin Road | 18 | Tsing Tin Interchange Tai Hing Tsing Tin Road |
San Hui San Tak Street | 19 | Tuen Mun Central Pui To Road |
Tuen Mun Central Tuen Hi Road (service road) | 20 | Tuen Mun Central Tuen Fat Road (service road) |
Tuen Mun Central, San Hui Tuen Hing Road | 20A | no exit |
Butterfly Beach, Tuen Mun West Wong Chu Road | 21 | Butterfly Beach, Tuen Mun West Wong Chu Road |
Siu Lam Interchange Siu Lam Castle Peak Road - Tai Lam | 22 | Siu Lam Interchange Siu Lam Castle Peak Road - Tai Lam |
Sham Tseng Interchange Sham Tseng, Tsing Lung Tau Castle Peak Road - Sham Tseng | 23 | Sam Tseng Interchange Sham Tseng, Ting Kau Castle Peak Road - Sham Tseng |
Ting Kau Interchange Yuen Long, Lok Ma Chau Tai Lam Tunnel | 24 | Ting Kau Interchange Lantau, Tsing Yi, Kowloon Ting Kau Bridge |
no exit | 24A | Tsing Yi, Kowloon Tsuen Wan Road |
Start Tuen Mun Road | End Tuen Mun Road continues on as Castle Peak Road - Tsuen Wan and Cheung Pei Shan Road |
Tuen Mun Road was one of Hong Kong's first high speed roads, and the first expressway. Its construction proved to be a great challenge for the engineers. The road had to be built along the winding coastline, and the steep terrain encountered required the construction of numerous viaducts, culverts and cuttings. To save construction costs, the road was built with narrow carriageways and substandard geometry, causing frequent traffic accidents and subsequent congestion for a long period, and as a result speed limits reduced to 70–80 km/h (45–50 mph). Another such measure was putting the construction work into phases.
Phase 1 of the road was built in 1977, being the present day Tsuen Wan bound carriageway. This section was officially opened on 5 May 1978 by Governor Murray MacLehose. [1] Phase 2, which consists of the Tuen Mun bound carriageway between Sham Tseng and Tsuen Wan, was opened in 1981; the remaining Tuen Mun Bound carriageway was completed in 1983.
Since the road was opened, there have been various improvements carried out to meet the increasing traffic demand, such as the addition of uphill crawler lanes (Tsuen Wan Bound) at Sam Shing Hui, So Kwun Wat, Tai Lam Chung and Ting Kau. The Highways Department has plans to carry out extensive reconstruction works on Tuen Mun Road that will include widening traffic lanes, improving horizontal curvatures and sightlines, and the installation of noise barriers. These works commenced in October 2008 and completed at the end of 2015. [2]
Tuen Mun Road remains one of the most heavily used roads in Hong Kong, as some drivers heading to Yuen Long shunpike Tai Lam Tunnel, and container trucks use it to access the River Trade Terminal in Tuen Mun.
To enhance the convenience of communicators travelling from New Territories to Kowloon or Hong Kong Island, Tuen Mun Road Bus-Bus Interchange had been under construction since 15 July 2010. The interchange on Kowloon bound side and that on Tuen Mun bound side were commissioned on 26 December 2012 and 27 July 2013 respectively. [3]
In the morning of 10 July 2003, a Neoplan Centroliner bus was running on route 265M of Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) towards Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long. A lorry running in the middle lane lost control as the bus approached the junction with Tsing Long Highway. The two vehicles collided, knocking the bus towards the side of the viaduct. The bus broke through the parapet, and plunged into Ting Kau Village 35 metres (115 ft) below, resulting in 21 deaths (including the driver) and 20 injured.
Rescue operations were described as being the most challenging encountered by the fire services since the fire at Garley Building. This was due to the constraints at the site (a rural village sited on a steep hillside with no direct road access), and the sheer volume of severely wounded casualties.
The bus was later lifted back onto Tuen Mun Road and transported to the vehicle compound at Siu Ho Wan. It was however written off.
After the incident, then-Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa visited the crash scene and pledged that the government would do all that it could to aid the survivors, to investigate the accident and prevent similar accidents from ever happening again. [4] [5] [6]
The lorry driver was sentenced to 18 months in jail after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. At the time, it was the most serious road accident in Hong Kong history. [4] He later appealed the rulings, which were subsequently overturned. Tests have shown that the vehicle he was driving was defective (tending to veer to the side when braking), and he was then found guilty of a lesser charge, careless driving, and his sentence was shortened to five months and a two-year driving ban. [7]
On 1 December 2013, a screw that protruded out of the road surface caused the tyres of about 50 heavy vehicles, of which 36 were KMB buses, to burst. The incident caused a 3-hour traffic jam and a partial closure of the road. Hundreds of passengers were affected but no one was injured in the incident. [8]
Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's 16th-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after the two islands it connects, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. It has two decks and carries both road and rail traffic, which also makes it the largest suspension bridge of this type. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) and a height of 206 metres (676 ft). The span is the longest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.
The Lantau Link, formerly known as the Lantau Fixed Crossing, is a roadway in Hong Kong forming part of Route 8 linking Lantau Island to Tsing Yi, from which other roads lead to the urban areas of Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories. Part of the Airport Core Programme centred on the new Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau, the link was officially opened on 27 April 1997, and it opened to traffic on 22 May the same year.
Ting Kau Bridge is a 1,177-metre (3,862 ft) long cable-stayed bridge in Hong Kong that spans from the northwest of Tsing Yi Island and Tuen Mun Road. It is near the Tsing Ma Bridge which also serves as a major connector between the Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau Island and the rest of Hong Kong. It was completed on 5 May 1998. The bridge is toll-free.
Rambler Channel is a body of water in Hong Kong that separates Tsing Yi Island from Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung in the New Territories. The channel separates the two landmasses by 900 metres at its widest point.
Route 9, Hong Kong is one of the strategic trunk roads, mostly in the form of a motorway, circumnavigating the New Territories. The route is also known as the New Territories Circular Road (新界環迴公路). Starting from the Shing Mun Tunnels, Route 9 links Sha Tin, Tai Po, Fanling, Sheung Shui, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan. The section between Exit 10 in Kwu Tung and Exit 16 in Lam Tei is part of Asian Highway 1, although the Asian Highway Network is not signed in Hong Kong.
Castle Peak Road is the longest road in Hong Kong. Completed in 1920, it runs in the approximate shape of an arc of a semi-circle. It runs West from Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po, New Kowloon, to Tuen Mun, then north to Yuen Long then east to Sheung Shui, in the very north of the New Territories. It is divided into 22 sections. It serves south, west and north New Territories, being one of the most distant roads in early Hong Kong.
Route 3 is a series of expressways in Hong Kong that runs from Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island to Yuen Long in the New Territories, linking West Kowloon, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi. It was built as part of the Airport Core Programme to provide access to Hong Kong International Airport from the city, and to relieve congestion in the New Territories. The Western Harbour Crossing and Tai Lam Tunnel that form part of the route are tollways.
Sham Tseng is a coastal area in Tsuen Wan District, Hong Kong, between Ting Kau and Tsing Lung Tau.
Tai Lam Tunnel, running along Tsing Long Highway, is part of Route 3 Country Park Section (R3CPS) and is a transport link between the western New Territories in Ting Kau and Yuen Long.
Tsing Long Highway is an expressway of Route 3 from North West Tsing Yi Interchange on Tsing Yi Island to Yuen Long, in Hong Kong. Ting Kau Bridge and Tai Lam Tunnel are part of the expressway. It connects with Cheung Tsing Highway and Lantau Link at its southern end, and San Tin Highway and Yuen Long Highway at its northern end. Its speed limit at parts south of Tai Lam Tunnel and Tai Lam Tunnel is 80 km/h and parts north of Tai Lam Tunnel is 100 km/h.
North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with full-width hard shoulders for emergencies and breakdowns. The speed limit is 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph) for most of its length, the highest of any road in Hong Kong.
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".
Yuen Long Highway is a Hong Kong expressway connecting Au Tau in Yuen Long and Lam Tei in Tuen Mun of New Territories.
Tsing Lung Tau is a coastal residential area in the southwest coast of the New Territories in Hong Kong.
Articles related to Hong Kong include:
The Hong Kong government started developing new towns in the 1950s to accommodate Hong Kong's booming population. During the first phase of development, the newly developed towns were called "satellite towns", a concept borrowed from the United Kingdom, of which Hong Kong was a colony. Kwun Tong, located in eastern Kowloon, and Tsuen Wan, located in the south-west of the New Territories, were designated as the first satellite towns, when the urban area in Hong Kong was still relatively small, restricted to the central and western parts of Kowloon Peninsula and the northern side of Hong Kong Island. Wah Fu Estate was also built in a remote corner on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, with similar concepts but at a smaller scale.
In the morning of 10 July 2003, a Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) double-decker bus plunged off a bridge near the Ting Kau section of the Tuen Mun Road in Tsuen Wan, New Territories. The crash killed 21 people and injured 20.
Preceded by Yuen Long Highway | Hong Kong Route 9 Tuen Mun Road | Succeeded by Cheung Pei Shan Road |