Heung Yuen Wai Highway, also abbreviated as HYWH, () is a
controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
in
North District,
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 ...
, Hong Kong. It diverges from
Fanling Highway
Fanling Highway () is a part of Route 9 in Hong Kong. It connects the new town of Tai Po and San Tin Highway, passing through Sheung Shui and Fanling on its way. The three lane expressway was constructed between 1983 and 1987.
Alignment
The ro ...
of
Route 9 at Kau Lung Hang, crosses
Sha Tau Kok Road
Sha Tau Kok Road () is a road connecting Sha Tau Kok and Fanling in the New Territories, Hong Kong.
History
Sha Tau Kok Road is the only road access to Sha Tau Kok from Hong Kong since its construction in 1927. The road replaced Sha Tau Kok Rai ...
and connects to
Heung Yuen Wai Control Point
Heung Yuen Wai Control Point () is a land border control point at the border at Heung Yuen Wai in North District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Its counterpart across the border is Liantang Port ( in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The control poi ...
, a
border checkpoint
A border checkpoint is a location on an international border where travelers or goods are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders ofte ...
between Hong Kong and China which opened for freight traffic on 26 August 2020.
The highway comprises three parts — Lung Shan Tunnel, Cheung Shan Tunnel, and of viaducts and at-grade roads. At , Lung Shan Tunnel is the longest land road tunnel in Hong Kong.
It boasts two lanes in each direction, with a posted
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
of 80 kilometres per hour.
Route description
The southern terminus of Heung Yuen Wai Highway, known as Fanling Highway Interchange, is where four viaducts connect the highway to
Fanling Highway
Fanling Highway () is a part of Route 9 in Hong Kong. It connects the new town of Tai Po and San Tin Highway, passing through Sheung Shui and Fanling on its way. The three lane expressway was constructed between 1983 and 1987.
Alignment
The ro ...
. Built using the
balanced cantilever method, the viaducts were assembled from 1,300 pieces of
precast concrete
Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...
segments.
The highway travels northeastward as a dual-tube tunnel under Bird's Hill (also known as Lung Shan, ) called Lung Shan Tunnel. The tunnel is the longest land-based road tunnel in Hong Kong,
[ longer than the previous record holder ]Tate's Cairn Tunnel
Tate's Cairn Tunnel is a four-lane road tunnel in Hong Kong. Constructed as part of Route 2, it links Diamond Hill, New Kowloon with Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories East. It opened on 26 June 1991.
Its toll plaza is situated on the ...
. Construction of the section from Fanling Highway Interchange to Lau Shui Heung involved the drill-and-blast method, whereas the segment from Lau Shui Heung to Sha Tau Kok Road Interchange was constructed with a tunnel boring machine
A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...
(TBM).
Upon leaving Lung Shan Tunnel, the highway will arrive at the Sha Tau Kok Road Interchange to the west of Loi Tung village, where it crosses Sha Tau Kok Road
Sha Tau Kok Road () is a road connecting Sha Tau Kok and Fanling in the New Territories, Hong Kong.
History
Sha Tau Kok Road is the only road access to Sha Tau Kok from Hong Kong since its construction in 1927. The road replaced Sha Tau Kok Rai ...
. It then travels northwestward in the form of a dual-tube tunnel called Cheung Shan Tunnel, named after the hill it passes under. Leaving the tunnel at Wo Keng Shan Road, the highway continues northwestward to Ping Yeung and thence to its intersection with Lin Ma Hang Road, where the highway currently ends. When the Heung Yuen Wai Control Point
Heung Yuen Wai Control Point () is a land border control point at the border at Heung Yuen Wai in North District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Its counterpart across the border is Liantang Port ( in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The control poi ...
opens in the future, the remaining section into the checkpoint would open.
Despite being a controlled-accessed highway with grade-separated interchanges, Heung Yuen Wai Highway has not been designated as an expressway under the ''Road Traffic Ordinance'' (Cap. 374, Laws of Hong Kong), nor does it belong to any of the territory's numbered routes.
History
The construction of Heung Yuen Wai Highway stemmed from the signing of ''Memorandum on Closer Co-operation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen'' in 2006, which calls for an investigation into the feasibility of building a new link between Hong Kong and China known as the Shenzhen Eastern Corridor. In September 2008 a decision was made jointly by the Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments to undertake the construction of the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, to be connected to Hong Kong's existing highway network by way of a dual two-lane trunk Connecting Road.[
The contract to construct Lung Shan Tunnel was awarded to Dragages-]Bouygues
Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...
Joint Venture at HK$10.314 billion. It was named Tunnelling Project of the Year in the 2019 Tunnelling Awards organized by ''New Civil Engineer
''New Civil Engineer'' is the monthly magazine for members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the UK chartered body that oversees the practice of civil engineering in the UK. First published in May 1972, it is today published by Metropoli ...
''. Meanwhile, the construction contracts for the Fanling Highway Interchange and the section between Sha Tau Kok Road and Lin Ma Hang Road were awarded to Chun Wo Construction and Engineering Company Limited and CRBC-CEC-KADEN Joint Venture respectively, at costs of HK$2.545 billion and HK$6.518 billion.[ Also included in the Chun Wo contract was the widening of ]Fanling Highway
Fanling Highway () is a part of Route 9 in Hong Kong. It connects the new town of Tai Po and San Tin Highway, passing through Sheung Shui and Fanling on its way. The three lane expressway was constructed between 1983 and 1987.
Alignment
The ro ...
.
The highway was opened to traffic at 8 AM on 26 May 2019.
Interchanges
See also
*Route 9 (Hong Kong)
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 Tu ...
References
External links
Heung Yuen Wai Highway
{{commons category
Expressways in Hong Kong
Tai Po District
North District, Hong Kong
Sha Tau Kok
Viaducts in Hong Kong
Bypasses