Taiwan Provincial Highway No. 18 is a highway between

Taibao Taibao (Hokkien POJ: ''Thài-pó'') is a county-administered city and the county seat of Chiayi County, Taiwan. Name The city was named after the government position of Wang De-lu, whose hometown is Taibao, in the 19th century. History Forme ...

Chiayi County Chiayi County ( Mandarin pinyin: ''jiā yì xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Ka-gī-koān'') is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. It is the sixth largest county in Taiwan. Name The former Chinese placename wa ...

to Provincial Highway No. 21 at Tatajia (Tataka) in Yushan National Park. It is also called the New Central Cross-Island Highway(新中橫公路) and Alishan Highway(阿里山公路). The highway connects

Chiayi City Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name ...

and the rest of Western

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Alishan National Scenic Area The Alishan National Scenic Area is a mountain resort and nature reserve located in Alishan township, Chiayi County, Taiwan. Geography Alishan is in area. Notable characteristics include mountain wilderness, four villages, waterfalls, hi ...

and Yushan National Park. The overall length of the highway is 108.559 km.

Route description

The highway begins in front of

THSR Chiayi Station Chiayi () is a high-speed rail station in Taibao City, Chiayi County, Taiwan served by Taiwan High Speed Rail. Overview The station is elevated with two side platforms. The two platforms are connected by an overhead skyway. The station was de ...

in Taibao City as HSR Avenue, which connects the station with downtown

. The highway continues eastbound as it leaves Chiayi City for Alishan. In Zhongpu the highway has a junction with Freeway 3. The road then passes through

Fanlu Fanlu Township () is a rural township in Chiayi County, Taiwan. History After the World War II in October 1945, the township became part of Tainan County. After readjustment in October 1950, the township became part of Chiayi County. In 1951, t ...

and

Zhuqi Zhuqi Township or Jhuci Township () is a rural township in Chiayi County, Taiwan. Geography It has a population of 33,906 as of May 2022, and an area of . Administrative divisions The township comprises the villages of Baiqi, Duanru, Fujin ...

before reaching Alishan Township, home to the popular tourist destination of

and Alishan Forest Railway. The highway then continues eastbound through the Alishan mountains and enters Yushan National Park, before ending at the junction of PH 21 in Tatajia, located near the foot of Yushan, the highest mountain in

. The highway was initially planned to extend to

Yuli, Hualien ; Bunun language, Bunun: (Hanzi transliterated by 1917: ) , capital = , nickname = , settlement_type = Township (Taiwan), Urban township , motto = , i ...

as a part of the New Central Cross-Island Highway. Due to environmental concerns, however, most of the segment extending from Tatajia to Hualien was never built. In 2006, the plan was formally abandoned. The only segment that was completed, between Zhuoxi, Hualien and Yuli, was merged into PH 30 as of 2007.

References

External links

Highways in Taiwan {{Taiwan-road-stub