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, in the very north of the New Territories. It is divided into 22 sections. It serves south, west and north New Territories, 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 Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

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. 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 fro ...

, Tai Lam,

Siu Lam Siu Lam () is an area and a village in Tuen Mun District, Hong Kong. Administration Siu Lam is one of the 36 villages represented within the Tuen Mun Rural Committee. For electoral purposes, Siu Lam is part of the So Kwun Wat So Kwun Wat, comm ...

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 Ta ...

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 Ping Shan () is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It is located west of Yuen Long Town and Shui Pin Wai, and south of Tin Shui Wai. Administratively, it is part of the Yuen Long District. Geography Although sandwiched between Yuen L ...

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 San Tin () is a loosely defined area in Yuen Long District in New Territories, Hong Kong that is part of the San Tin constituency. Unlike Hong Kong's highly urbanised areas, San Tin is sparsely populated due to its marshlands. San Tin is loca ...

, Lok Ma Chau (near the Chinese border), Pak Shek Au and

Kwu Tung Kwu Tung () is an area in the northern New Territories, west of Sheung Shui and Fanling, and east of Lok Ma Chau and San Tin, in Hong Kong. Administration For electoral purposes, Kwu Tung is part of the Sheung Shui Rural constituency of the ...

before terminating at Fan Kam Road in Sheung Shui.

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