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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (April 23):
Question:
Regarding traffic congestion in the three road-harbour crossings, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the average waiting time for motorists to use the above three harbour crossings during the peak and non-peak hours in the past three years, and whether congestion in the harbour crossings has shown signs of deterioration; and
(b) whether it has examined the annual losses, in terms of social costs, caused by traffic congestion in the above harbour crossings; if so, of the detailed outcome; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Journey Time Indication System installed by the Transport Department on Hong Kong Island provides real time information to motorists about the journey time from the relevant system to the road harbour crossings. The relevant data provides some reference about the waiting time for motorists to use the three harbour crossings. According to the relevant data, from Gloucester Road to the egress of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel (CHT) at Hung Hom, journey time during morning peak hours is around 7 minutes and that during evening peak hours is around 22 minutes; and from Canal Road Flyover to the egress of CHT at Hung Hom, journey time during morning peak hours is around 14 minutes and that during evening peak hours is around 21 minutes. There were no material changes in the relevant journey time over the past three years.
(b) We are very concerned about the problem caused by the congestion at road harbour crossings, and have been keeping an open-mind and studying in earnest possible measures that may improve the distribution of traffic at the three road harbour crossings. However, any assessment should be premised on alternative options of different traffic distribution for comparison purpose.
We consider that no matter which option is to be adopted, it must be able to bring about overall benefit to the public, be fair to taxpayers and help to achieve reasonable distribution of traffic. In the meantime, we need to consider whether the road network connecting the three crossings has sufficient capacity to absorb the increased traffic flow arising from a reduction of tunnel toll. This is because insufficient capacity of these connecting roads would undermine the objective of rationalisation of cross-harbour traffic flow by adjustment of tunnel tolls. In this connection, accelerating the construction of planned connecting roads, in particular the Central-Wanchai Bypass, is an important element in improving the distribution of traffic amongst the three crossings.
Ends/Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:59
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