North Lantau Highway near Citygate (Hong Kong)

North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking

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 ...

and

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with full-width hard shoulders for emergencies and breakdowns. The

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...

is for most of its length, the highest of any road in Hong Kong. North Lantau Highway is in length, beginning at Airport Road on

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

. The road then crosses onto Lantau Island and bypasses Tung Chung New Town. The road then travels along the northern coast of Lantau Island, next to 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 ...

and

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 c ...

of the

Mass Transit Railway The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

(MTR). This section is built on

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

and through various cuttings. Finally, the road climbs over Ta Shui Wan and Tsing Chau Wan to meet the

Lantau Link The Lantau Link, formerly known as the Lantau Fixed Crossing, is a roadway in Hong Kong forming part of Route 8 linking Lantau Island to Tsing Yi, from which other roads lead to the urban areas of Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories ...

and its bridges.

History

Background

The North Lantau Highway was built as part of the Airport Core Programme in the 1990s. The ultimate aim of the new motorway was to connect Hong Kong's urban core with the new international airport (opened 1998) as well as associated new town development in Tung Chung. Construction commenced in June 1992 to a design by Mott MacDonald Hong Kong.

Construction and opening

Rather than tendering the project as a single contract, which would have drawn bids from only the largest international contractors, the Hong Kong government opted to split the expressway into three separate phases that would be more manageable in scale to local companies, thereby drawing a more competitive range of bids. The contract to construct the Tai Ho Section, worth HK$3.5 billion, was awarded on 8 June 1992 to the Lantau Expressway Joint Venture, of which

Downer Group Downer Group is an integrated services company active in Australia and New Zealand. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and New Zealand Stock Exchange as Downer EDI (DOW), Downer is an ASX 100 company. Downer Group employs approximat ...

was the lead contractor. The Yam O Section contract, worth $1.328 billion, was awarded on 14 September 1992 to a joint venture comprising

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 ...

, Franki Contractors, and Tobishima Corporation. Lastly, the Tung Chung Section contract, worth $969.1 million, was awarded on 27 September 1993 to a joint venture composed of China State, Leighton Asia and Hochtief. The expressway opened to traffic on 22 May 1997. In the days leading up to the opening, officers of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department rounded up about 30 cattle who had wandered onto the highway during construction, when the perimeter fence was not fully enclosed.

Sunny Bay Interchange

The Sunny Bay Interchange came into operation in 2005, allowing traffic to exit the North Lantau Highway onto the new

Penny's Bay Highway Penny's Bay Highway () is a section of expressway on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The road links North Lantau Highway to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre in Penny's Bay. It is approximately 1.5 km, starting fro ...

. This opened up access to

Penny's Bay Penny's Bay or Chok Ko Wan () was a bay in north-eastern Lantau Island, and had been a port since the Ming dynasty. The bay has since been reclaimed and is the site of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which consists of the Hong Kong Disneyland t ...

, which was reclaimed mainly for the new Hong Kong Disneyland.

2008 flooding

On 7 June 2008, North Lantau Highway and its

service road A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...

, Cheung Tung Road, were completely flooded at Caribbean Coast,

Tung Chung Tung Chung, meaning " eastern stream", is an area on the northwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. One of the most recent new towns, it was formerly a rural fishing village beside Tung Chung Bay, and along the delta and lower courses of ...

at 6am, under rainfall as high as per hour. The highway was forced to close completely, rendering

inaccessible by road. With a water depth of , and the flood extending in length, some 20 vehicles were trapped on the scene by the floodwater. Another thousand vehicles were trapped in the resulting traffic jam, extending about back to the toll plaza of

. Service was increased on the MTR

and

to alleviate passenger flow. The highway was partially reopened starting from 4:00 pm that day.

Design

An early design for the North Lantau Highway was completed in the early 1980s. It was envisaged as a two-lane dual carriageway " uggingthe rugged northern coastline of Lantau". However, the plan did not proceed at that time as the airport project was shelved by the government for financial reasons. The Chek Lap Kok airport project was resurrected in 1989 under the governorship of David Wilson. In the same year, new motorways design standards were introduced in Hong Kong. In 1990, the highway was redesigned to reflect these new standards, and to take into account higher projected usage. The North Lantau Highway, as built, is a three-lane dual carriageway with a gentler grade and curvature than the earlier iteration. Hard shoulders of 3.3 metres are also provided on either side of the expressway. Most of the highway is built on reclaimed land. The fill for the land reclamation came from slope cuttings or marine borrow areas in Hong Kong, or was river sand imported from China. The most significant bridge along the length of the road is located at the very end of the highway, linking Lantau and Chek Lap Kok. This multi-span structure, approximately 320 metres long, also carries a utility conduit serving the airport containing electricity, water, sewerage, telephone, and raw water connections. There are smaller bridges at Tai Ho Wan and Sham Shui Kok.

Interchanges

{, class="plainrowheaders wikitable" , + Hong Kong road sign (Expressway Begins)

North Lantau Highway , - !scope=col, District !scope=col, Location !scope=col, km !scope=col, Interchange name !scope=col, Exit !scope=col, Destinations !scope=col, Notes , - , rowspan=7,

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, style="text-align:right", 0.0 , , style="text-align:center", , Airport Road –

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

, Western terminus; start of Route 8 distance markers. , - , rowspan=3,

, style="text-align:right", 0.4 , , style="text-align:center", , , Start of expressway; western terminus of Route 8. , - , style="text-align:right", 0.6 , , style="text-align:center; background:#ffdddd;", 6C , style="background:#ffdddd;", Tung Chung Waterfront Road – Tung Chung (North) , style="background:#ffdddd;", Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Formerly numbered 6B , - , style="text-align:right", 1.6 , Tung Chung Eastern Interchange , style="text-align:center; background:#ffdddd;", 6B , style="background:#ffdddd;", Yu Tung Road – Tung Chung Town Centre, Tung Chung (West) , style="background:#ffdddd;", Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Formerly numbered 6A , - , rowspan=3,

Siu Ho Wan Siu Ho Wan (, lit. ''small inlet bay'') is a bay on the north shore of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The bay has been largely reclaimed for bus depots. The Airport Express, Tung Chung line of the MTR and the North Lantau Highway run across the rec ...

, style="text-align:right", 3.4 , , style="text-align:center;", 6A , Shun Long Road –

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pear ...

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

, Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Linkage to the

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZMB) is a bridge–tunnel system consisting of a series of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest open-sea fi ...

and Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link , - , style="text-align:right", 4.8 , Siu Ho Wan Interchange , style="text-align:center;", 6 , Unnamed access road – Siu Ho Wan MTR Depot , , - , style="text-align:right", 5.4 , , style="text-align:center;", 5A , Shun Long Road –

, Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Linkage to the

, - , rowspan=2, Tsuen Wan , Yam O , style="text-align:right", 11.3 , Sunny Bay Interchange , style="text-align:center;", 5 , Hong Kong road sign (Expressway Begins)

–

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (D ...

Sunny Bay Ta Shui Wan () was a bay in Yam O, Lantau Island, New Territories, Hong Kong, located between Tai Yam Teng () and Ngong Shuen Au (). The bay was reclaimed to construct MTR Sunny Bay station. Ta Shui Wan Ferry Pier () was a ferry pier in Ta Shui ...

, , - , Tsing Chau Tsai , style="text-align:right", 12.9 , Lantau Toll Plaza , style="text-align:center;", , Hong Kong road sign (Expressway Begins)

–

Tsing Yi Tsing Yi, sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost al ...

, Kowloon,

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 Delta i ...

, Eastern terminus (at toll booths); continues

Traffic

The

Transport Department The Transport Department of the Government of Hong Kong is a department of the civil service responsible for transportation-related policy in Hong Kong. The department is under the Transport and Logistics Bureau. The Transport Department was cre ...

offers traffic figures at two sections of the North Lantau Highway. The section between the western end of the highway (i.e. Airport Road) and the Tung Chung Eastern Interchange registered

annual average daily traffic Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a ...

(AADT) of 54,410 in 2016. The section between Tung Chung and Ngong Shuen Au was busier, carrying 66,110 AADT in 2016. Traffic on the highway has increased in recent years. Some residents and legislators have raised concerns that the new

(see below) will increase traffic congestion.

Current developments

A new interchange at Tai Ho Wan is under construction. This will connect the North Lantau Expressway to the Border Crossing Facilities Island (BCF Island), a new

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...

being built as part of the controversial

project. The connection between the new island and the North Lantau Expressway is actually being built under the Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok Link project, a new road tunnel connecting

to the BCF Island. From the new interchange, a two-lane dual carriageway will run on viaducts, over the sea, to the BCF Island. The project (including the viaducts, the interchange, and modifications to the North Lantau Highway and Cheung Tung Road) is being built by Hong Kong contractor Gammon Construction for a contract value of HK$8.66 billion. The Highways Departments expects this to be complete by 2019.

References

External links

* {{sequence , prev=

, list= Hong Kong Route 8

North Lantau Highway , next=''Western Terminus'' Expressways in Hong Kong Route 8 (Hong Kong) Lantau Island Extra areas operated by NT taxis