Hong Kong Strategic Route And Exit Number System
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The Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System () is a system adopted by the Transport Department of the
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
to organise the major roads in the territory into routes 1 to 10 for the convenience of drivers. When the system was implemented in 2004, the government promoted it with a major public campaign, including the slogan "Remember the Numbers; Make Driving Easier" (). The system comprises ten major series of roads in Hong Kong, numbered routes 1 to 10, which can be classified into three categories: the three north-south routes, the six east-west routes and the
New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...
Circular Road. The route numbers are displayed as black on yellow "road-shields" on overhead road signs. Parts of the road system are limited-access roads, and a significant portion of these roads are expressways. The system also utilises exit numbering with the exits of each route are numbered sequentially; some exit numbers are suffixed with a letter. Exit numbers are indicated by white-in-black rectangular boxes on overhead and roadside signs.


Features

There are no traffic lights on the expressways. Traffic interchange with other roads is entirely via slip roads, maximising vehicular flow and land space usage. There are some stack interchanges. The Strategic Route System has traffic lights on only a few roads, such as Waterloo Road (Route 1) and Kwun Tong Road (Route 7). The road surface is asphalt. The lanes are separated by white dashed lines, while unbroken white lines are used to mark the edges of the
median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...
and shoulder. The shoulder is reserved for stops due to breakdowns and emergencies, and motorists are prohibited by law from travelling on it. Lanes are numbered from right to left, with lane 1 being the closest to the median. Crash barriers, cat's eyes and rumble strips are also used to ensure road safety. Signs mark the start and end of an expressway at its entry and exit points respectively. These expressways do not have rest areas. The speed limits for most vehicles (see the paragraph below for exceptions) on the Hong Kong highways are 110 km/h for North Lantau Highway, 100 km/h for the New Territories roads and West Kowloon Highway, 80 km/h for the most expressways and 70 km/h, due to the older ones such as Island Eastern Corridor, East Kowloon Corridor, West Kowloon Corridor and Tsuen Wan Road. A speeding offence less than 10 km/h over the speed limit is not usually enforced. Subsequently, many drivers in Hong Kong drive at a speed that is 5-10 km/h more than the speed limit. If drivers are travelling at a speed of 15 km/h more than the speed limit, speed limit enforcement cameras will be activated and drivers may receive a fine. As stipulated by the Laws of Hong Kong Cap 374 s 40 (5) and (5A), medium goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles and buses or any vehicle driven by a driver with a probationary driving licence shall travel no faster than the speed limit of the road or 70 km/h, whichever is slower; while minibuses shall travel no faster than the speed limit of the road or 80 km/h, whichever is slower. Many vehicles of these types actually ignore this and simply follow the speed limit of the road on the Hong Kong highways, thereby committing speeding offence. However, this law is not usually enforced – cameras are not tuned to be triggered differently by these types of vehicle.


Route number system

The three north-south routes are Route 1, Route 2, and Route 3. They connect Hong Kong Island, metro
Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...
and the New Territories via a series of flyovers and
tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...
s. They pass through the three tunnels crossing
Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...
, and their sequence of numbering follows the order of opening dates of the three tunnels: * Route 1: Cross-Harbour Tunnel (opened 1972) * Route 2:
Eastern Harbour Crossing The Eastern Harbour Crossing (), abbreviated as "EHC" () is a combined road-rail tunnel that crosses beneath Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Opened on 21 September 1989, it is the second harbour-crossing tunnel built and the longest amongst t ...
(opened 1989; formerly Route 6) * Route 3: Western Harbour Crossing (opened 1997) The five east-west routes — Route 4, Route 5, Route 6, Route 7, Route 8 and Route 10 — are numbered from south to north. Route 4 runs along the north shore of Hong Kong Island, connecting the eastern and western ends of the island, whereas Routes 5, 6 and 7 link southern New Territories with parts of Kowloon. Route 8 provides direct access to Chek Lap Kok Airport, and was extended to Sha Tin in 2008. Route 10 provides access to the border crossing at
Shekou Shekou () is an area at the southern tip of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, Guangdong Province, China. It faces Yuen Long, Hong Kong across the Deep Bay, China, Shenzhen Bay. It has been designated as a free- ...
,
Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
. * Route 4: formerly Routes 7 and 8 (opened 1990) * Route 5: formerly Tsuen Wan – Ngau Tau Kok section of Route 2 (opened 1970-1980s) * Route 6: comprises the Central Kowloon Route, Trunk Road T2, Cha Kwo Ling Tunnel (''under construction'') and the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel (partially completed as of 2022) * Route 7: formerly Route 4 (opened 1970s) * Route 8: formerly Route 9 (Tsing Yi – Airport section opened 1997; Tsing Yi – Cheung Sha Wan section opened December 2009; Cheung Sha Wan – Sha Tin section opened 2008) * Route 10 (opened 2007) The circular route, Route 9, circumscribes the New Territories, with the exit at the Shing Mun Tunnels in Sha Tin as the starting point of exit-numbering. It links up the network of expressways and trunk roads in the New Territories into a large ring. * Route 9: formerly Route 5 + Fo Tan – Lok Ma Chau section of Route 1 + Tsuen Wan – Lok Ma Chau section of Route 2 (construction from 1974–2007)


Future Highways

* Route 11: A proposed highway going from Tsing Yi - Lantau Link and passing through two tunnels and a bridge until it reaches the junction with Route 9 and Route 10. It is scheduled to be completed in 2033.


Exit number system

In parallel with route numbering, the junctions between routes and exits from routes are also labelled with exit numbers. On every route, exits are numbered from one end to the other with ascending consecutive integers with a mixture of alphabet-suffixed labels (1, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 4... etc.), similar in function to UK motorway junction markers.


History


First generation

The first generation of the route number system in Hong Kong was envisaged in the 1968 ''Hong Kong Long Term Road Study'' by Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates, in which trunk routes were given single-digit numbers, and distributors with double-digit ones. Also included in the road study was an unnumbered Western Harbour Crossing (WHC), which in the plan involved a bridge crossing the
Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...
between Cherry Street in
Mong Kok Mong Kok (Chinese language, Chinese: 旺角), also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK, is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward, Hong Kong, Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. As one of the major sho ...
and Kennedy Town, by way of Stonecutters Island and Green Island. Numbered routes included in the study were: *1:
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
to Fanling, via Aberdeen Tunnel, Cross-Harbour Tunnel,
Lion Rock Tunnel The Lion Rock Tunnel, the first major road tunnel in Hong Kong, is a twin-board toll tunnel, connecting Hin Tin, Sha Tin District, Sha Tin in the New Territories and New Kowloon near Kowloon Tong. It has two southbound lanes, and there are ...
, Tai Po Road **11: Ngau Tau Kok to Butterfly Valley Interchange, via Prince Edward Road East, Prince Edward Road West and Lai Chi Kok Road for westbound, Cheung Sha Wan Road and Boundary Street for eastbound **12: Kowloon City to
Mong Kok Mong Kok (Chinese language, Chinese: 旺角), also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK, is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward, Hong Kong, Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. As one of the major sho ...
, via Argyle Street and Cherry Street, connecting to WHC **14: connecting routes 1 and 4, via Choi Hung Road and Po Kong Village Road *2: Junction between route 1 and Chatham Road to
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, Hong Kong, North District of Hong Kong. Fanli ...
, via Gascoigne Road, West Kowloon Corridor, Kwai Chung Road, Tsuen Wan Road, Tuen Mun Road, Castle Peak Road **21: Chatham Road South **22: Ferry Street and
Canton Road Canton Road (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 廣東道) is a List of streets and roads in Hong Kong, major road in Hong Kong, linking the former west Land reclamation in Hong Kong, reclamation shore in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Hong Kong ...
**23: Nathan Road and Tai Po Road until Tai Wo Ping Interchange *3: Junction between route 1 and Chatham Road to Yau Tong via Kai Tak Tunnel (then Airport Tunnel) and Kwun Tong Road **31: Ma Tau Wai Road and Ma Tau Chung Road *4: Butterfly Valley Interchange to
Kwun Tong Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon P ...
, via Ching Cheung Road, Lung Cheung Road and a suggested flyover of what was to become
Kwun Tong Bypass The Kwun Tong Bypass (also spelt Kwun Tong By-pass) is an elevated Controlled-access highway, expressway between Lam Tin and Kowloon Bay in Kwun Tong District, East Kowloon, Kowloon East, Hong Kong, with three lanes in each direction and a posted ...
**41: Kwun Tong to Tseung Kwan O (then Junk Bay) **42: Choi Hung Interchange to Clear Water Bay *5: Kwai Chung to Sha Tin, via what was to become Shing Mun Tunnels *6: Castle Peak Road, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan sections *7: Aberdeen to Causeway Bay, via suggested road between Aberdeen and Kennedy Town, Connaught Road, Harcourt Road and Gloucester Road **71: Pok Fu Lam Road, Third Street and Water Street *8: Causeway Bay to Chai Wan via suggested flyover above King's Road; predecessor to present-day Island Eastern Corridor **81: Chai Wan to
Wong Chuk Hang Wong Chuk Hang () is a neighbourhood in the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. History Neolithic artifacts have been unearthed in a region called Chung Hom Wan, which is not far from Wong Chuk Han ...
by way of Tai Tam and
Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse B ...
; never built


Second generation

The second generation of route numbers came into use in 1974. All distributors lost their numbers, retaining only trunk routes in the system. It was replaced in 2004 by the present-day third generation. At the new system's conception, some numbers were reserved for future road plans at that time. There were 11 routes in the system, of which nine (routes 1 to 9) were used as of 2004. *1:
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
to Lok Ma Chau, 47.3 km, previously route 1. Split into routes 1 and 9 *2: Ngau Tau Kok to San Tin, 54.4 km, previously routes 2 and 3. Split into routes 5 and 9 *3:
Sai Ying Pun Sai Ying Pun is an area in Sai Wan, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is administratively part of the Central and Western District. Etymology In Cantonese, ''Sai'' ( zh, t=西, labels=no) means "west" and ''Ying Pun'' ( zh, t=營盤, l ...
to Au Tau, 27.7 km. Still route 3 today *4: Lai Chi Kok to Tseung Kwan O, via Kwun Tong Road, 17 km. Today's route 7 *5: Tsuen Wan to
Sha Tin Racecourse Sha Tin Racecourse is one of the two racecourses for horse racing in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin District, Sha Tin in the New Territories. It is managed by Hong Kong Jockey Club. Penfold Park is encircled by the track, and the Ho ...
, 9.5 km. Part of route 9 today *6: Tai Koo Shing to
Ma Liu Shui Ma Liu Shui is an area in Sha Tin District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The area faces Tide Cove (Sha Tin Hoi) and Tolo Harbour. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science Park are located in Ma Liu Shui. Name et ...
, via
Kwun Tong Bypass The Kwun Tong Bypass (also spelt Kwun Tong By-pass) is an elevated Controlled-access highway, expressway between Lam Tin and Kowloon Bay in Kwun Tong District, East Kowloon, Kowloon East, Hong Kong, with three lanes in each direction and a posted ...
and
Tate's Cairn Tunnel Tate's Cairn Tunnel is a four-lane road tunnel in Hong Kong. Constructed as part of Route 2, it links Diamond Hill, New Kowloon with Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories East. It opened on 26 June 1991. Its toll plaza is situated on ...
, 19.5 km. Today's route 2 *7: Causeway Bay to
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, 13.5 km, previously also route 7. Merged with route 8 to form today's route 4 *8: Island Eastern Corridor, 9.6 km, previously also route 8. Merged with route 7 to form today's route 4 *9: Chek Lap Kok to Tai Wai, 33.7 km. Today's route 8 *10: Green Island to Shenzhen Bay, 29.5 km. Still route 10 today *11: West Kowloon to Tseung Kwan O, via Central Kowloon Route, 14 km. Today's route 6, still under planning


Third generation

The third generation of route numbers came into use in 2004, and is the numbering system currently being used.


See also

* Exit number * Road number


References


Transport Department – HK Strategic Route, Exit Number and Chainage Marker System
{{Motorways in Asia Road transport in Hong Kong