West Kowloon Highway is a section of Route 3 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, built as part of the

Airport Core Programme The Airport Core Programme was a series of infrastructure projects centred on the new Hong Kong International Airport during the early 1990s. The programme was part of the Port and Airport Development Strategy, commonly known as the Rose Gard ...

. This dual-three-lane expressway runs for 4.2 km (), connecting

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 Isl ...

in the south with

Tsing Kwai Highway Tsing Kwai Highway () is a section of Route 3 in Hong Kong, previously known as Route 3 - Kwai Chung Section. From its junction with West Kowloon Highway at Mei Foo Roundabout, the expressway runs in the form of a three-kilometre dual-four-lan ...

in the north. While the southern section of the road is at grade, the northern part is on a viaduct in order to accommodate the MTR

Tung Chung line The Tung Chung line is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, linking the town of Tung Chung with central Hong Kong. A part of the Tung Chung line was built along with the Kap Shui Mun Bridge and the Tsing Ma Bridge. The line cu ...

and the

Airport Express The AirPort Express is a Wi-Fi base station product from Apple Inc., part of the AirPort product line. While more compact and in some ways simpler than another Apple Wi-Fi base station, the AirPort Extreme, the Express offers audio output cap ...

. It is not to be confused with the older

West Kowloon Corridor West Kowloon Corridor is part of Route 5 in Hong Kong. Bypassing existing surface roads in West Kowloon, it connects Lai Chi Kok Road in Cheung Sha Wan with the Gascoigne Road Flyover near Yau Ma Tei. The highway was built in 4 phases: *Phase 1 ...

(currently part of Route 5), which is partly parallel to the West Kowloon Highway. This expressway originally had a speed limit of , but it was increased to because of the smooth shape of the road.

History

The highway was constructed as part of the

; a major function of the new highway was to facilitate access to the new

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 ...

from

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 ...

and

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

. It was built entirely on the

West Kowloon Reclamation West Kowloon () is the western part of Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong, situated within the Yau Tsim Mong District and Sham Shui Po District. It is bounded by Canton Road to the east, Victoria Harbour to the west and the south, and Jor ...

, an area of artificial land reclaimed from

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

, also under the Airport Core Programme. The road design and engineering consultancy was awarded to Freeman Fox Maunsell in 1990. The northern section (between

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a populat ...

and Cherry Street in

Tai Kok Tsui Tai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots were previously located there. Blocks of high-rise residential b ...

) was built by a consortium comprising

Kumagai Gumi is a Japanese construction company founded in Fukui, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. The company still has registered headquarters in Fukui, but the actual head office is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. History Santaro Kumagai, the company's founder, bega ...

Maeda Corporation is a Japanese corporation which was established in 1919. Its main areas of business are building construction and civil engineering. Maeda has domestic offices in eleven Japanese cities, and overseas offices in Thailand, Hong Kong, and India. H ...

, and

China Road and Bridge Corporation China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a subsidiary of Fortune Global 500 company China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), focuses on global civil engineering and construction projects such as highways, railways, bridges, ports, and ...

. The southern section (between Tai Kok Tsui and the Western Harbour Crossing toll plaza) was constructed by

Aoki Corporation Aoki Corporation was a Japanese construction company founded in 1947. It built many projects in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and also invested in non-construction businesses, like hotels. It previously owned the Westin Hotels chain. The company, ...

. The two contracts commenced on 2 August 1993 and 31 August 1993 respectively. The road was opened on 19 February 1997.

References

External links

Highways in Kowloon

Google Maps of West Kowloon Highway
Expressways in Hong Kong Route 3 (Hong Kong) Sham Shui Po District Tai Kok Tsui West Kowloon {{HongKong-road-stub

History

See also

References

External links