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 Sheung Shui (, literally "Above-water") is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Sheung Shui Town, a part of this area, is part of the Fanling–Sheung Shui New Town in the North District of Hong Kong. Fanling Town is to its southeas ...

, in the very north of the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

. It is divided into 22 sections. It serves south, west and north

, being one of the most distant roads in early Hong Kong.

Name

The road was named after Castle Peak, a peak in the western New Territories. The area to the east of the peak was hence named Castle Peak. Later at the dawn of the development of new town, the area was renamed to its old name, Tuen Mun. The road was originally known in Chinese as ''Tsing Shan To'' () for its entire length. The Chinese name of the section of the road in the New Territories was later changed to ''Tsing Shan Kung Lo'' () Lit. "Castle Peak public road" or "Castle Peak Highway". In everyday conversation, however, the term ''Tsing Shan To'' survives for the stretches within Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long.

History

The road was constructed soon after the British leased the New Territories in 1898. Speaking in the Legislative Council in 1909, Governor Frederick Lugard cited the facilitation of trade and police control as reasons for the road's construction. It was built and gradually widened in sections.

Route

New Kowloon

The road starts east at Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po and passes through Cheung Sha Wan and Lai Chi Kok in New Kowloon. On both sides of the road are old residential blocks, with some dated back to pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Towards Lai Chi Kok, it is surrounded by industrial buildings instead. The road is one-way eastbound between Kom Tsun Street & its terminus at Tai Po Road.

New Territories

After leaving New Kowloon, it goes uphill past Kau Wa Keng and Tai Ching Cheung along a four-lane expressway to Kwai Chung and downhill into Tsuen Wan. The stretch within Tsuen Wan is also commonly called "main road" (), especially among the older generations. Next, it goes along the south shore of the Western New Territories, via

Yau Kom Tau Yau Kom Tau or Yau Kam Tau () may refer to: * Yau Kom Tau (Tsing Yi) on Tsing Yi island, Hong Kong * Yau Kom Tau (Tsuen Wan District) in the Tsuen Wan District of Hong Kong. Yau Kom Tau Village Yau Kom Tau Village (), sometimes transliterated a ...

, Ting Kau, Sham Tseng,

Tsing Lung Tau Tsing Lung Tau () is a coastal residential area in the southwest coast of the New Territories in Hong Kong. Geography Tsing Lung Tau is located on the southwest coast of the New Territories in Hong Kong, between Sham Tseng and Tai Lam; west from ...

, Tai Lam, Siu Lam and

So Kwun Wat So Kwun Wat, commonly pronounced So Kwun Fat, is an area on the south coast of the western mainland New Territories in Hong Kong. The proper So Kwun Wat is a populated area in the valley between Siu Lam and Sam Shing Hui. It includes So Kwun Tan ...

and then reaches the Tuen Mun New Town, which was also known as Castle Peak (after which the road was named). Much of this stretch was bypassed by Tuen Mun Road between 1977 and 1983. It continues north-east as a six-laned road, paralleling the Light Rail through Lam Tei, Hung Shui Kiu, Ping Shan and goes through another new town, Yuen Long New Town. The section within Yuen Long, again, is also commonly called "main road" (). This section was bypassed by the Yuen Long Highway in 1992. It then turns north at Au Tau, just west of Kam Tin. This section is paralleled by San Tin Highway, constructed between 1991 and 1993. It then passes through Mai Po, San Tin, Lok Ma Chau (near the Chinese border), Pak Shek Au and Kwu Tung before terminating at Fan Kam Road in

References

External links

Google Maps of Castle Peak Road
{{HKkowloonroads Sham Shui Po Cheung Sha Wan Lai Chi Kok Kwai Chung Tsuen Wan Ting Kau Sham Tseng Tsing Lung Tau Tuen Mun Yuen Long Sheung Shui Roads in New Kowloon Roads in the New Territories