Tai Lam Tunnel (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 大欖隧道), running along

Tsing Long Highway Tsing Long Highway () is an expressway of Route 3 from North West Tsing Yi Interchange on Tsing Yi Island to Yuen Long, in Hong Kong. Ting Kau Bridge and Tai Lam Tunnel are part of the expressway. It connects with Cheung Tsing Highway and Lanta ...

, is part of Route 3 Country Park Section (R3CPS) and is a transport link between the western

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 ...

Ting Kau Ting Kau is an area in west Tsuen Wan District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Ting Kau Village () is a village near the shore. Ting Kau is famous for the Ting Kau Bridge, spanning the Rambler Channel, from Ting Kau to Tsing Yi Island. Administr ...

and

Yuen Long Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north Nam Sang W ...

. Tai Lam Tunnel was constructed to ease traffic congestion at

Tuen Mun Road Tuen Mun Road is a major expressway in Hong Kong which connects Tuen Mun with Tsuen Wan, within the New Territories. It is part of Hong Kong's Route 9, which circumnavigates the New Territories. Opened in 1978, it was once the major trunk rout ...

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 S ...

and

Castle Peak Road 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 Sh ...

, and to link traffic directly from New Territories West to urban areas of Kowloon West and

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

, the

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...

and the

Kwai Tsing Container Terminals Kwai Tsing Container Terminals is the main port facilities in the reclamation along Rambler Channel between Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. It evolved from four berths of Kwai Chung Container Port () completed in the 1970s. It later ...

. Located adjacent to the boundary crossings of

Lok Ma Chau Lok Ma Chau or Lokmachau is an area in Hong Kong's New Territories. It is the site of a major pedestrian (linked directly to the Hong Kong rapid transit network) and road border crossing point between Hong Kong and mainland China. Administra ...

and

Shenzhen Bay Deep Bay is a bay between Yuen Long District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong and the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province. It is otherwise known as Hau Hoi Wan () in Hong Kong, and Shenzhen Bay () in Mainland China. Name The local Canto ...

, it connects with

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

for serving both cross-boundary passenger services and cargo logistics.

Toll area

Tai Lam Tunnel is a dual 3-lane tunnel. The total length of the R3CPS (the tolled area) is . The tolled area, with two entrances/exits at the south end,

Ting Kau Bridge Ting Kau Bridge is a long cable-stayed bridge in Hong Kong that spans from the northwest of Tsing Yi Island and Tuen Mun Road. It is near the Tsing Ma Bridge which also serves as a major connector between the Hong Kong International Airport o ...

and

at Ting Kau, crosses

Tai Lam Country Park Tai Lam Country Park, established on 23 February 1979, is a country park located in Tai Lam, at the south of Yuen Long Town, Kam Tin and Shek Kong and east of Tuen Mun Town, in the western New Territories of Hong Kong. This country park has an a ...

to its north end at

Pat Heung Pat Heung is an area in the middle of New Territories, Hong Kong. Located at the east of Kam Tin and north of Shek Kong, it is the exit to Sheung Shui and Fanling. Administratively, it belongs to Yuen Long District. Villages Pat Heung co ...

. Located at Pat Heung and about from the north tunnel portal, the toll plaza consists of 22 tollbooths, 16 of which are for manual tolls and 6 are

Autotoll Autotoll Limited (Autotoll) provides Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) service in Hong Kong. Introduction Autotoll was established on 1 October 1998, through the merger of the two individual electronic toll collection systems by The Autopass Co. ...

lanes.

Construction and operation

Tai Lam Tunnel is a Build-Operate-Transfer (B.O.T) project with a franchise period of 30 years (including construction period). Its total construction cost was HK$7.25 billion. Construction on Tai Lam Tunnel started on 13 March 1995 and was officially opened to traffic on 25 May 1998 to match with the opening of the new Hong Kong International Airport. The designed traffic capacity of Tai Lam Tunnel is 140,000 vehicles per day. In 2011/2012, the average daily traffic was over 54,000 vehicles. According to the statistics from the Transport Department of the

Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino-Br ...

, Tai Lam Tunnel has higher-than-average safety records. In 2011, the accident rate per million vehicle-km was just 0.07.

Tunnel tolls

The tunnel is well known for its high tolls similar as the

Western Harbour Crossing The Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) is a dual 3-lane immersed tube tunnel in Hong Kong. It is the third road tunnel to cross Victoria Harbour, linking the newly reclaimed land in Yau Ma Tei on Kowloon West with Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Isla ...

. Its toll for private cars is HK$48, making it the second most expensive tunnel in Hong Kong; the most expensive is the Western Harbour Crossing at HK$75. For coaches, it is the highest in the city, about 4 times higher than the longer Tate's Cairn Tunnel.

Environmental protection and sustainable measures

The tunnel company performed compensatory tree planting at a rate of three replacement saplings for each tree felled. In total, 250,000 trees, 150,000 shrubs and 60,000 climbing plants were planted during the construction period. As to conservation of wildlife, there is a small tunnel constructed at the south portal of Tai Lam Tunnel, mainly for small wild animals in this area to commute in the valley freely, allowing them to maintain their habituation. To keep in pace with technology development, Tai Lam Tunnel has gradually replaced traditional light bulbs with

light-emitting diodes A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

(LEDs). The indicator lighting signals inside the tunnel tubes and at the toll plaza as well as the illuminating system in the administration building have thus been replaced for reducing carbon emission.

References

External links