MacArthur Thruway (; shortened to ), was the first controlled-access highway in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, linking

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, along with its neighbors, New T ...

from 1964 to 1977. It was a predecessor to the

's National Highway System.

Route

Starting in Taipei at what is now Taipei Gymnasium, the MacArthur Thruway headed east along Nanjing East Road, intersected with

Keelung Road Keelung Road (, also called 14th Ave or Jilong Road, referring to Keelung) is a major arterial and highway in Taipei, Taiwan, connecting the Neihu district from the MacAuthur 1st Bridge in the east with the Songshan, Xinyi, and Daan districts t ...

at Zhengqi Bridge, and crossed the

Keelung River The Keelung River () is a river in northern Taiwan. The Keelung River originates in the mountains west-northwest of the town of Jingtong in Pingxi District, New Taipei City, flows down to a rift valley and then flows ENE to Sandiaoling. The ...

. From there, it went through Neihu,

Xizhi Xizhi () is an inner city district in eastern New Taipei City in northern Taiwan, and is located between Taipei City and Keelung City. Compared to most districts in eastern New Taipei, which are very sparsely populated, Xizhi is one of the mor ...

, and Qidu, ending in

at the intersection of Xiao 2nd Road (孝二路) and Zhong 4th Road (忠四路). The length was . To handle the heavy traffic between Taipei and Keelung, the road was designed as a controlled-access highway, with 32 bridges, 12 interchanges, and one tunnel called the Zhongxing Tunnel. The tolls for using the road were NT$10 for large vehicles, NT$5 for small vehicles, and NT$1 for military vehicles. Tricycles, motorcycles, and bicycles were prohibited. Originally the speed limits were set to 80 km/h for flat sections and 60 km/h for hilly sections, but this was soon changed to 100 km/h and 80 km/h, respectively.

History

Construction of the MacArthur Thruway began in May 1962, took two years, and cost NT$260 million, including aid from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The road opened on May 2, 1964. Originally, it was to be named Beiji 2nd Road (), and it was later renamed Beiji Xin Road (). After General Douglas MacArthur died a month before the road opened, the road was renamed in his honor. Unfortunately, the road was plagued with accidents. It was less than wide, with only one lane in each direction. There was no median to separate oncoming traffic, nor were there barriers along the side of the road. Traffic safety was not a well developed concept. Finally, the quality of the construction was poor. These factors led to a total of 51 accidents and casualties of 273 people within the first two years of the road's opening. The 1979 opening of

National Freeway 1 National Freeway 1 (), also known as Sun Yat-sen Freeway (), is a freeway in Taiwan, the first freeway built in Taiwan. It begins in Keelung at the intersection of Xiao 2nd Road and Zhong 4th Road and ends in Kaohsiung at the intersection of Z ...

superseded most of the MacArthur Thruway. The primary remaining section is from the MacArthur 1st Bridge to the Neihu Interchange of National Highway 1, about long. In 1980, it was renamed Section 6, Nanjing East Road. The frontage road along this section was also renamed to Section 6, Nanjing East Road in 2009. The other remaining sections are parts of Kangning Street in

Xizhi District Xizhi () is an inner city district in eastern New Taipei City in northern Taiwan, and is located between Taipei City and Keelung City. Compared to most districts in eastern New Taipei, which are very sparsely populated, Xizhi is one of the mo ...

New Taipei New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...

and Lane 253, Shijian Road in

Qidu District Qidu District or Cidu District () is a district of the city of Keelung, Taiwan. It borders New Taipei to the west. History During the period of Japanese rule, included modern day Qidu and Nuannuan districts and was governed under of Taih ...

. In 2019–20, two bridges on the latter road were rebuilt due to their condition and narrow width.

References

External links

* * Highways in Taiwan Roads in Taipei Transportation in Keelung {{taiwan-road-stub