Tai Po Road is the second longest road 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 ...

(after

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 ...

). It spans from

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui P ...

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 ...

Tai Po Tai Po is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Market") on the north of Lam Tsue ...

in the

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 ...

. Initially, the road was named Frontier Road.

Location

The road begins at

Nathan Road Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, aligned south–north from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po. It is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors, and was known in the post–World War II years as the Golden ...

near Sham Shui Po, runs through the valley between Golden Hill and Beacon Hill, and connects to

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ne ...

. It then continues northward along

Sha Tin Hoi Sha Tin Hoi / Sha Tin Sea () or Tide Cove is a cove at the mouth of the Shing Mun River. It is between Ma Liu Shui and Ma On Shan. The cove is open to Tolo Harbour (Tai Po Hoi). It was largely reclaimed for the development of Sha Tin New Town ...

and Tai Po Hoi.

History

Built in 1902, Tai Po Road is one of the earliest major roads in the New Territories. Until the completion of the

Lion Rock Tunnel The Lion Rock Tunnel, the first major road tunnel in Hong Kong, is a twin-bored toll tunnel, connecting Hin Tin, Sha Tin in the New Territories and New Kowloon near Kowloon Tong. It has two southbound lanes, and there are two northbound la ...

in 1967, Tai Po Road was the main road connecting the New Territories with Kowloon.Cheng Siu Kei
"Making of a New Town: Urbanisation in Tai Po"
''Tai Po Book'' p. 271 Before the construction of the

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 ...

in the 1980s, the road connected

Fanling Fanling ( zh, t=粉嶺; also spelled Fan Ling or Fan Leng) is a town in the New Territories East of Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the North District. Fanling Town is the main settlement of the Fanling area. The name Fanling i ...

and

Sheung Shui Sheung Shui (, literally "Above-water") is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Sheung Shui Town, a part of this area, is part of the Fanling–Sheung Shui New Town in the North District of Hong Kong. Fanling Town is to its southea ...

. On 10 February 2018, at approximately 18:13 HKT, a

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International. ...

(KMB)

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

flipped onto its side on Tai Po Road. The crash killed 19 people and injured 65. The incident was Hong Kong's second deadliest road traffic accident, behind a 2003 incident on

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 rou ...

that killed 21.

Gallery

HK Tai Po Road Pipers Hill Section.jpg, Tai Po Road Piper's Hill Section in June 2008 Tai Po Road Shatin Section 201403.jpg, Tai Po Road Sha Tin Section in March 2014

References

External links

*Google Maps of Tai Po Road:
All sections except Tai Wo (大窩段)

Tai Wo section (大窩段)
{{Coord, 22.38893, 114.19353, display=title Route 9 (Hong Kong) Sham Shui Po So Uk Tai Wai Sha Tin Fo Tan Ma Liu Shui Pak Shek Kok Tai Po Fanling Sheung Shui Roads in New Kowloon Roads in the New Territories

Location

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links