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    Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, today (May 11) apologized for the inconvenience caused to the public by the traffic gridlock in Kowloon East on Monday (May 9) evening.

    She pointed out that all relevant departments had been trying their best to deal with the unusual traffic congestion caused by fallen trees and fallen scaffoldings at three major roads in Kowloon due to the sudden inclement weather. Nonetheless, a lot can be learnt from the experience this time to facilitate better handling of similar situation in future.

    The Administration will set up a Task Force to review the role of various departments, including crisis management, co-ordination systems, remedial works and the dissemination of information to the public. The Task Force will be headed by the Transport Advisory Committee chairman, Ms Teresa Cheng.

    Dr Liao noted that the Police had been taking prompt on-site decisions on that day to deal with the closure of roads, finding out if there was any casualties, informing the relevant departments to clear the trees and scaffoldings as well as diverting the traffic. The first priority was given to safety of persons trapped at the scene.

    The incidents occurred at Waterloo Road and the Argyle Street had been cleared by 6 pm. However, structural engineers of the Buildings Department had assessed the situation at Prince Edward Road East and decided that the loosed scaffolding could not be removed immediately that day for safety reasons. This caused the prolonged closure of that section of Prince Edward Road East.

    The Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre of the Transport Department upon receiving the notification of the incident at 1.24 pm had been in close liaison with the Police throughout the day to monitor the traffic situation and made suggestions for traffic diversion. These included adjustments to traffic signal to allow more green time for diversion routes and to request Police to pay attention to critical locations.

    At the same time, the Transport Department also planned for longer- term solution if the closure was to prolong. Transport Department officers worked out the contra flow traffic arrangement, which was introduced in time for the evening peak on May 10. This measure combined with the reopening of two traffic lanes eastbound, resulted in reasonable, normal flow of traffic yesterday.

    However, the Secretary noted that the traffic congestion was particularly difficult to relieve on May 9 since it was not easy to divert the traffic when it had been piled up and that three of the trunk roads in central Kowloon were affected by different accidents around the same period.

    She noted that information had been disseminated to the radio and TV stations by the Transport Department and the Police since that afternoon. But, she admitted that there were rooms for improvement on the co-ordination work and how the messages can be made to reflect more clearly the precise and overall traffic situation so that the public can be more alerted and get prepared.  

    Dr Liao said she fully understood the frustration of people affected by the traffic congestion and the inconvenience that the incidents had caused. She pledged that the review would be done thoroughly by the Task Force so that improvements can be made in the future.

Ends/Wednesday, May 11, 2005

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