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The Transport Department (TD) today (October 15) said that though some road sections were re-opened yesterday, traffic was still seriously congested and public transport services affected by the road situation was still unstable since some major trunk roads on Hong Kong Island such as Harcourt Road remained closed and roads between Hong Kong East and West could not be fully re-connected. Police will implement temporary traffic arrangements to relieve traffic congestion and motorists are advised to pay attention and follow instructions of Police.
At an inter-departmental press conference today, the Assistant Commissioner for Transport, Mr Albert Su, said that due to the closure of Harcourt Road, all vehicles travelling on Gloucester Road (west bound) heading for Queensway were diverted to inner Gloucester Road and Fenwick Street. As the capacity of inner Gloucester Road is far less than Gloucester Road, traffic bottleneck was formed, resulting in serious traffic congestion on inner Gloucester Road (west bound) since 7.45am with a 7-km tailback. This bottleneck also affected the traffic from the Wan Chai exit of Aberdeen Tunnel. In order to reduce traffic congestion, Police will implement temporary traffic management measures and drivers should follow instructions of Police.
Mr Su noted that with the re-opening of Queensway, vehicles travelling via the Mid-levels could use Cotton Tree Drive uphill bound and Garden Road downhill bound. Therefore traffic was alleviated this morning on roads connecting Hong Kong East and West, such as Kennedy Road, Tai Hang Road, Lung Wo Road which were seriously congested in the past week. Nevertheless, the re-opening of Queensway led to more vehicles using Hennessy Road and caused traffic congestion on it. He added that unless the illegally occupied roads could be re-opened, otherwise the traffic congestion occurred in the northern part of Hong Kong Island would go on.
Subsequent to the re-opening of Queensway, Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road, bus routes serving Bonham Road and Caine Road in the Mid-levels resumed services, including resumption of original routing of Citybus route 40 and New World First Bus route 23 travelling via school areas in the Mid-levels. The bus services were generally in normal operation this morning. School buses can also use Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road to pick up students to go to school in the Mid-levels and the school bus trade reflected that the situation of taking students was also generally good.
Mr Su reminded members of the public that the public transport services were affected by the road situation and bus routes and frequencies would still be unstable. Members of the public are urged to continue to start their journey early and allow more time for travelling. They should also pay attention to the TD and bus companies' latest announcement of traffic and transport information, and plan their journey in advance.
Regarding public transport services, suspended bus routes reduced to eight and a total of 218 bus routes are diverted. Tram services between Percival Street and Victoria Park remains suspended. A total of 23 Green minibus routes travelling via Harcourt Road and Nathan Road are still diverted, suspended or with service adjusted. The MTR continues to increase services and manpower for all urban lines and the services have been strengthened to reach the limit of a headway of about two minutes during peak hours.
The TD's Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre will continue to monitor the road traffic situation and transport services. For details of the major traffic and transport arrangements currently implemented, please refer to the TD website (www.td.gov.hk).
Ends/Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Issued at HKT 20:29
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