Roads The government is accelerating the launch of infrastructure projects in various districts, hoping to give the moribund economy a boost and stimulate the grim employment market. Gammon Construction has made a head start with a HK$2.82 billion project, recently awarded by the Highways Department, to upgrade the eastern section of Tuen Mun Road until 2013. According to Kong Shui-sun, the company's contracts manager, the project involves reconstruction and re-alignment of the eastern section of Tuen Mun Road between Tsuen Wan and Tsing Lung Tau to meet expressway standards, and improvement work will include the widening of the traffic lanes to ease traffic flow during peak hours. The company expects some challenges during the construction process. One of them is to maintain normal traffic flow and ensure the operation of the busy Tuen Mun highway will not get bogged down at each phase of the construction. The project will be carried out in three stages, including the widening of the seaside section of the west bound highway, work related to the hillside section of the east bound highway and final alignment. Mr Kong said: 'Inevitably there will be foreseeable hindrances when we conduct geotechnical work in the area, such as widening the viaduct to maintain good traffic flow, which has to be done at the steep hill terrain between Tuen Mun Road and Castle Peak Road. 'But we will adopt appropriate traffic control, safety and environmental management systems to ensure that the project will be delivered smoothly, safely and in an environmentally sustainable manner.' After the upgrade, widened highway lanes will greatly improve the overall traffic volume and efficiency, with additional hard shoulders for broken down vehicles that could have otherwise blocked the lanes. The improvement work is expected to eliminate the impact of traffic accidents on other road users and allow emergency vehicles to reach the scene more quickly. The noise level will be significantly reduced after installation of noise barriers covering the sections of Angler's Beach, Sham Tseng, Yau Kom Tau and Tsuen Wan. 'The traffic conditions will greatly improve in both directions of Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan, particularly during peak hours,' Mr Kong said. He said Gammon would oversee other projects, such as the associated environmental mitigation measures, drainage, slope maintenance and landscaping. 'We expect to create 450 new jobs next year and another 500 in the lead up to the project's completion in 2013. These jobs will involve engineering and consultation positions.' Gammon's recent highway projects include the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor as well as the northern section of Deep Bay Link.