The Central–Wan Chai Bypass is a trunk road running between

Sheung Wan Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District. The name can be variously interpreted as ''Upper Dist ...

and Fortress Hill on Hong Kong Island. The original design consists of a 2.3 km dual three-lane tunnel running under new reclamation areas provided by the Central and Wan Chai Reclamation project,Central–Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link
and also connections to Connaught Road West flyover and

Island Eastern Corridor The Island Eastern Corridor (IEC) is an expressway built along the northeastern shore of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It starts from Causeway Bay in the west and ends in Chai Wan in the east. It is mostly part of Route 4. The section bet ...

. It substitutes Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road, Gloucester Road and Victoria Park Road to be part of

Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * AH4, Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durres to Kakav ...

. The bypass opened to traffic on 20 January 2019.

History

The project, originally estimated to cost HK$28 billion, was approved by the Legislative Council finance committee in 2009, following a "decade of objections and legal challenges" from environmentalists and citizens concerned by further reclamation of

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 ...

. An Environmental Permit was issued under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance and construction began the same year. Lawmakers were "shocked" in 2013 by

cost overrun A cost overrun, also known as a cost increase or budget overrun, involves unexpected incurred costs. When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known ...

s. The

Transport and Housing Bureau The Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) was an agency of the Government of Hong Kong between 2007 and 2022, responsible for a range of policies such as the internal and external transportation, including air transport, land transport, maritime ...

requested HK$8 billion in extra funding, bringing the total bill to HK$36 billion. Gary Fan, a member of LegCo's transport panel, asked: "Did the government deliberately underestimate the cost in order to get Legco to pass it?" The government bureau blamed unforeseen geotechnical difficulties as well as fluctuating labour and materials costs for the 28 per cent budget increase. On 15 September 2015, the Director of Highways announced that the Central–Wan Chai Bypass would not open in 2017 as previously anticipated. He blamed a large metal object (probably a sunken ship) that was found on the seabed at the reclamation site in Wan Chai. As a result of the discovery, reclamation works were suspended for some time. The first phase of the project opened on 20 January 2019 with the entire project becoming operational on 24 February that year.

Alignment

The bypass starts from Rumsey Street Flyover at

. It enters a tunnel outside the International Finance Centre in Central, then heads east past the Tamar site in Admiralty with an interchange at

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area nort ...

. It continues to head east under the proposed reclamation areas of Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tin Hau. The original design to have the bypass via Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter leave the tunnel and connect with

at Fortress Hill was amended so that the bypass would now emerge from the tunnel between the IEC carriageways, merging with them near Oil Street, Fortress Hill.

Tunnel ventilation

Ventilation is an indispensable part for the operation of the tunnel as it will supply fresh air to maintain good air-quality environment to the commuters inside the tunnel while discharge vitiated air in a controlled manner at pre-determined suitable locations of exhaust. The tunnel ventilation system is also required to remove smoke in case of tunnel fire incidents. It is proposed to have three ventilation buildings sited near the western end, mid-length and eastern end of the Bypass to achieve the three objectives of supplying fresh air, extracting vitiated air and removing smoke during fire. To achieve an energy efficient ventilation system by shortening the air extraction path, the location of proposed East Ventilation Building (EVB) needs to be as close to the tunnel portal as possible.Central - Wan Chai Bypass Connecting Island Eastern Corridor Enhancement Scheme for East Ventilation Building Public Consultation Leaflet

Gallery

File:Central and Wan Chai Reclamation Overview 201007.jpg, Construction site in 2010, looking west from Wan Chai. File:Central-Wan Chai Bypass (1).JPG, Construction site in 2011, looking east from the footbridge outside IFC. File:Central–Wan Chai Bypass construction Admiralty section.JPG, Admiralty section construction site. File:Central–Wan Chai Bypass construction Central section.JPG, Central section construction site. File:Central–Wan Chai Bypass construction Causeway Bay section.JPG, Causeway Bay section construction site. File:Semi-submersible ship used to install large large precast unit for Central–Wan Chai Bypass construction.JPG, Semi-submersible ship used to install large precast unit. File:Heavy crane ship use by Central–Wan Chai Bypass construction.JPG, Heavy crane ship use in the construction. File:Central-Wan Chai Bypass Construction.jpg, Construction works, as seen from Fleming Road in 2017.

References

External links

Highways Department - Major Projects - Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor LinkCentral-Wan Chai Bypass Project WebsiteTwo years time lapse record of Wan Chai section construction work (YouTube video)Semi-submersible ship installing large precast unit (YouTube video)Central – Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link construction sites (YouTube video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Central-Wan Chai Bypass Central, Hong Kong Wan Chai North Admiralty, Hong Kong Causeway Bay Route 4 (Hong Kong) Bypasses Undersea tunnels in Asia Tunnels in Hong Kong 2019 establishments in Hong Kong