Kai Tak Tunnel

Kowloon City Road entrance in Ma Tau Kok.

Kai Tak Tunnel Kowloon Bay entrance

Kai Tak Tunnel (traditional Chinese: 啟德隧道; simplified Chinese: 启德隧道; pinyin: Qǐdé Suìdào; Cantonese Yale: kai2 dak1 seui6 dou6), formerly known as the Airport Tunnel (traditional Chinese: 機場隧道; simplified Chinese: 机场隧道) is a tunnel in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, which connects the Kowloon Bay and Ma Tau Kok areas by going beneath the former Hong Kong International Airport (Kai Tak Airport). It is part of Route 5.

The tunnel provides a quick link between the two ends of the tunnel, as before the construction of the tunnel vehicles had to detour through Kowloon City to reach the other end.^[1][2] Kai Tak Tunnel is currently managed by Greater Lucky (H.K.) Company Limited.

History

Construction of the tunnel had started by 1975,^[3] but because of the difficulties in digging under the airport runway, it was not complete until 1982. It opened on 29 June 1982. It was known as Kowloon Bay Tunnel (九龍灣隧道) at the time of its opening, and it was also the first tunnel in Hong Kong to be toll-free,^[2] excluding short underpasses.

With Kai Tak Airport's shutdown in 1998, the Airport Tunnel was no longer fulfilled to its name. The Hong Kong Government announced to rename to Kai Tak Tunnel on 2 March, 2006 that the tunnel, effective from 4 May, 2006, after several years of consultation with groups including the Kowloon City District Council.^[4]

Features

The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes of about 7 metres diameter each, 1.26 km long. The southern tube carries west-bound traffic from Kowloon Bay to Ma Tau Kok. A point of interest is that the eastbound tunnel branches off onto Sung Wong Toi Road.^[5] It is the only major vehicular tunnel in Hong Kong built entirely by the cut-and-cover technique.^[2]

Many major express bus routes of Kowloon Motor Bus between Kowloon and the eastern end of New Kowloon travel through the Kai Tak Tunnel. Most of them run between the Kwun Tong District and Tsim Sha Tsui. They include 13X, 98D, 98P, 215X, 219P, 219X, 296D. Westbound departures of routes 11X and 28 also run through Kai Tak Tunnel. In total, an estimated 60000 vehicles use the tunnel each day.^[5]

References

1. Hong Kong - Streets and Districts (香港街道與地區) (1978), Lands Department, HKSAR.
2. Hong Kong Yearbook 1999, HKSAR.
3. http://hongkongandmacaufilmstuff.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-man-from-hong-kong-wang-yu-1975-kai.html
4. Airport Tunnel renamed as Kai Tak Tunnel - Hong Kong Government press release. Retrieved on May 29, 2008.
5. Hong Kong Guide 2006, Survey and Mapping Office, HKSAR.

Coordinates: 22°19′27.49″N 114°11′37.66″E / 22.3243028°N 114.1937944°E