Kwai Chung Road () is a

throughway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a popula ...

of 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 ...

in Hong Kong. It is one of the busiest roads in Hong Kong. The Transport Department has classified it as a

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

. It was built in the 1960s for the two main development projects in Hong Kong, one for the

Tsuen Wan New Town Tsuen Wan New Town is a new town in Hong Kong. It spans Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung and the eastern part of Tsing Yi Island. Traditionally, the administrative officials of Tsuen Wan managed the area of Tsuen Wan proper, Kwai Chung, Tsing Yi Is ...

, another for the Kwai Chung Container Port. The road replaces the Castle Peak Road as the main connection between Tsuen Wan and Kowloon. It hosts most public bus routes from

Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan (formerly also spelled Tsun Wan) is a New towns of Hong Kong, town built on a bay in the New Territories West (constituency), western New Territories of Hong Kong, opposite Tsing Yi, Tsing Yi Island across Rambler Channel. The market ...

and

Tsing Yi Tsing Yi (), sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the New Territories of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has been extended drastically by reclamation alo ...

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 vice versa. There are about one hundred bus routes using this road.

Route

The road starts from a junction with

Cheung Sha Wan Road Cheung Sha Wan Road () is a main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong going in a south-north direction from Mong Kok in the south to Lai Chi Kok in the north. Description It starts in Mong Kok near Boundary Street and at the northern terminus of N ...

Lai Chi Kok Road Lai Chi Kok Road () is a road in western Kowloon, Hong Kong. It links Lai Chi Kok to Mong Kok, via Tai Kok Tsui, Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan. It starts from a junction with Nathan Road near Pioneer Centre in the south and ends near Mei Foo ...

and

Butterfly Valley Road Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossils ...

Cheung Sha Wan Cheung Sha Wan () is an area between Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is mainly residential to the north and south, with an industrial area in between. Administratively it is part of Sham Shui Po District, which al ...

, via Kwai Chung Road Flyover in Mei Foo,

Lai Chi Kok Bridge Lai Chi Kok Bridge is a Hong Kong bridge that carries the Kwai Chung Road, part of Route 5, linking Kowloon to Kwai Chung, New Territories. The bridge, once the longest in Hong Kong, spanned Lai Chi Kok Bay, which was later filled in. It ...

, Chung Kwai Chung, and ends at a junction with

Castle Peak Road Castle Peak Road ( Chinese: 青山公路) is the longest road in Hong Kong. Completed in 1920, it has 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 Y ...

and

Cheung Wing Road Cheung is a Cantonese language, Cantonese romanization of Chinese, romanization of several Chinese surnames, including (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified ; ), (), and (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified ). It is a fairly common Am ...

in Sheung Kwai Chung. It has served the new town of Kwai Chung on the reclamation of Lap Sap Wan, and also the Kwai Chung Container Terminals. The section south of

Tsuen Wan Road Tsuen Wan Road (Chinese: 荃灣路) is a major expressway in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing districts, New Territories, Hong Kong. It forms part of Route 5 of Hong Kong's highway system and runs 4.1 kilometers in the east-west direction from Kwai C ...

is part of Route 5.

History

Before the construction of Kwai Chung Road,

was the only road to connect to

and the western New Territories. In the 1960s, Castle Peak Road was by then more than 40 years old and did not meet the needs of the future development plans of the New Territories. The

Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the handover of Hong Kong. ...

developed the

and Kwai Chung Container Port. Tsuen Wan New Town consists of

and

. The

Gin Drinkers Bay Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a population ...

in Kwai Chung was reclaimed completely afterwards. Kwai Chung Road was built along the coastal line of the bay which is inside the

new town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

and close to the container port. In the 1990s, the road was reconstructed during the building of the

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is an international airport on the island of Chek Lap Kok in western Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or Chek Lap Kok Airport, to distinguish it from its predec ...

. Another elevated highway was built on top of Kwai Chung Road near the container port. The reconstruction eased the traffic congestion of Kwai Chung Road and met the need of expansion of the new town and container port. Construction works commenced in 1993 and were completed in February 1997.

Geography

Kwai Chung Road was built along the old coastal line. The southern part is more hilly and the northern is on a small plain. Thus the southern part suffers from

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s during

rainstorm Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

s occasionally.

Buildings

Buildings are arranged from south to north *

Mei Foo Sun Chuen Mei Foo Sun Chuen or simply Mei Foo is a large private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Mei Foo Sun Chuen was the first large scale private housing estate in Hong Kong and at the time of completion, the 99-tower complex ...

, the largest private estates in Hong Kong, with 99 residential buildings. *

Mariner's Club The Mariner's Club () was a building in Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The building was demolished and will be redeveloped into a complex hosting a hotel, a club, a church and gardens. History The Mariner's Club at Tsim Sha T ...

, a building besides Kwai Chung Container Port *

Lai King station Lai King is an MTR station on the Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung lines. The station is located above ground on a viaduct and is an interchange for the Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung lines. The Chinese name of the station uses the classical character of ...

, an MTR station. * Kwai Chung Tin Hau Temple, relocated to side of the Road, owing to reclamation of Lap Shap Wan in 1966. The original temple was built before 1828. * Kwai Chung Police Station, located at 999 Kwai Chung Road. As the station is very close the road, the

Environmental Protection Department Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is a department of Hong Kong Government concerning the issues of environmental protection in Hong Kong. The EPD is responsible for developing policies covering environmental protection, nature conser ...

has set up an air monitor station to measure the

Air Pollution Index The Air Pollution Index (API; ) is a simple and generalized way to describe the air quality, which is used in Malaysia. It is calculated from several sets of air pollution data and was formerly used in mainland China and Hong Kong. In mainland ...

. *

Kwai Fong Estate Kwai Fong Estate () is a public housing estate in Kwai Fong, Kwai Chung, New Territories, Hong Kong. It was built in the reclaimed land of Gin Drinkers Bay, later the town centre of Kwai Chung, south of Kwai Hing Estate. Kwai Fong station is na ...

, a public estate built on the reclamation. *

Kwai Hing Estate Kwai Hing Estate () is a public housing estate in Kwai Hing, Kwai Chung, New Territories, Hong Kong. It was built in the valley of Gin Drinkers Bay, later the town centre of Kwai Chung. Kwai Hing station is named after the name of the estate. It ...

, a public estate built on the reclamation.

Traffic

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 ...

has recorded over 140 thousand vehicles each day. It is the busiest road between Kowloon and the New Territories.

References

External links

Google Maps of Kwai Chung Road
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, list= Hong Kong Route 5

Kwai Chung Road , next=

Kwai Chung Lai Chi Kok Route 5 (Hong Kong) Roads in the New Territories