Victoria Park to shrink as traffic flow trumps trees
Slip road for new Central-Wan Chai Bypass will reduce space, facilities and greenery, and seems to have escaped district councillors' notice
A slip road for a new highway linking Central and Wan Chai is set to cut through Victoria Park, reducing its size by 20,000 square feet and stripping it of 350 trees.
While work on the slip road was approved in 2009 and quietly started in March, district councillors and government advisers are hardly aware of the development that will intrude into the city's largest urban park.
"We were not aware the road would cut into the park until recently," said Jennifer Chow Kit-bing, an Eastern District Council member representing the Victoria Park constituency.
"It will look weird and ruin the peace and quiet."
She said she could not recall discussions or papers about the slip road.
"Now I'm concerned the road will bring air pollution and noise in the park," she said, adding that she would ask the Highways Department for more details and urge it to install noise barriers.
According to a recently published departmental newsletter, the slip road will link up with Tsing Fung Street and encroach on the park's northern side. As it exits the park, the slip road will go underground to lead into the bypass tunnel to Central.